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Israel Reoccupies Tulkarm, Seals Off Territories
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Israeli soldiers storm a building in Tulkarm. (Reuters)
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GAZA
CITY, July 13, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The
Israeli army reoccupied the West Bank town of Tulkarm and sealed off
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, July 13, one day
after a Palestinian bomber blew himself up at a shopping center in the
Israeli city of Netanya.
"I
ordered police and Israeli security services to launch a relentless
attack against the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization and its
commanders," Reuters quoted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
as telling reporters.
Four
Israelis were killed and dozens wounded in Tuesday's bombing, which
was claimed by the Islamic Jihad movement. It is the first bombing
inside Israel in four and a half months.
Entering
Tulkarm, Israeli troops fired at a Palestinian security post, killing
a policeman in what witnesses called an unprovoked attack.
Deputy
Palestinian Prime Minister Nabil Shaath condemned the Israeli
offensive as "a new violation of all agreements."
Tulkarm
was handed back to Palestinian Authority control in March under
arrangements agreed at the Sharm El-Sheikh summit in Egypt the
previous month.
An
Israeli official that the decision to hand over control to the PA in
the West Bank towns of Ramallah, Bethlehem and Qalqilya had been
frozen, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
With
the reoccupation of Tulkarm, only Jericho remains under PA control.
Palestinian
President Mahmud Abbas managed to convince resistance factions in
March to observe a "period of calm" conditional on Israel
ending its aggressions against them.
Since
then, the calm has been put to the test several times in view of
continued Israeli violations.
Over
the past three months, many Palestinians were killed and wounded by
Israeli gunfire, drawing retaliatory mortar and rocket attacks from
Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters on Jewish settlements in the occupied
territories.
Arrests
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A Palestinian youth hurls stones at an Israeli armored vehicle in Tulkarm. (Reuters)
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Israeli
occupation troops overnight arrested five members of the Islamic Jihad
in Tulkarm.
"Five
Islamic Jihad terrorists have been arrested during IDF (Israel Defense
Force) activity in the Tulkarm area during the night and early this
morning," an army spokeswoman said.
Military
sources said that the five were active members of the resistance
movement.
Following
a fiasco summit between Palestinian President Abbas and Sharon in
June, Israel resumed its much-criticized assassination policy
targeting resistance activists from the Islamic Jihad.
Israeli
officials said they decided to target Islamic Jihad activists,
confirming a botched missile strike in Gaza at the time Sharon and
Abbas were meeting in West Jerusalem.
Just
hours before the Sharon-Abbas summit, Israeli troops rounded up 52
Islamic Jihad activists in the West Bank in the biggest sweep since
the two men declared the quasi-truce.
At
the time, Khaled Al-Batsh, a senior Islamic Jihad leader, warned of
“terrible consequences” if Israel resumed assassinations.
Foreigners
Kidnapped
In
another development, a British national and another foreigner were
kidnapped Wednesday in the Gaza Strip, British diplomats told AFP.
"We
believe that one British national and another foreign national have
been kidnapped," Ross Allen, a spokesman for the British
consulate in Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) said.
"We
are working with the Palestinian Authority. We have consulate staff in
Gaza liaising with Palestinian officials."
The
Briton's identity was not immediately revealed although it is believed
that he was working on a water treatment project in the territory.
A
report on the Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya said that the second
kidnap victim was an Austrian although there was no immediate
confirmation from Austrian diplomats.
In
July of last year, Palestinian gunmen released unharmed three
foreigners - an American, a Briton and an Irishman – after abducting
them for two hours in the West Bank city of Nablus.
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