27 Dec. 2001 - 2 Jan. 2002
Issue No.566
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 27 Dec. 2001 - 2 Jan. 2002 Issue No.566 |
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One-sided cease-fire
Sharon ratches up the spiral of violence, while both Hamas and Jihad call a halt to operations within Israel, reports Khaled Amayreh from the occupied West Bank
After a few days' lull Israel's army yesterday resumed its incursions and bombardment of towns and villages administered by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of Israeli troops, backed by tanks and armoured vehicles, entered the town of Azzun in the northern West Bank early yesterday, destroying homes. Israeli troops arrested 18 men -- "suspected of hostile activity" -- in house-to-house searches. Among those picked up were members of Fatah, Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
In the Gaza Strip the Israeli army strafed the Rafah refugee camp with machine-gun fire, injuring two brothers. A few hours earlier Israeli troops had raided several villages in the Nablus and Ramallah areas, rounding up more than 30 people. Also on Tuesday, a Palestinian college student was killed and an Israeli settler seriously wounded outside the Palestinian town of Tulkarm in a clash between Palestinians and Jewish settlers.
Israel's ferocious incursions began a day after suspected Palestinian activists had targetted an Israeli patrol along the Jordanian-Israeli border. Two unidentified Arab guerrillas and an Israeli occupation soldier were killed and four others injured during the exchange of fire.
Israeli helicopters strafed thickets and bushes on the Jordanian side of the border amid reports, subsequently denied by Saleh Kallab, a Jordanian minister without portfolio, that Israeli troops had crossed the border in pursuit of the guerrillas.
On the same day Islamic Jihad spokesman Nafez Azzam said in a radio interview that his movement would follow Hamas and suspend attacks on targets inside Israel.
"We, at the Islamic Jihad, will abide by the national consensus and shall never give the Zionist enemy a pretext to continue its criminal onslaught against our people."
The PA lauded the announcement, praising Islamic Jihad and Hamas for "displaying national responsibility at this delicate juncture of our nationalist struggle."
PA official Nabil Amr stressed that the ball was now in Israel's court: "The international community must now act to force the recalcitrant Israeli prime minister to stop provocation and terror against our people and resume negotiations in accordance with UN resolutions 242 and 338 and the peace-for-land formula."
Israel's response was to issue statements on Wednesday that Arafat would continue to be besieged in his Ramallah office "until he takes genuine steps in fighting terror."
Sharon has demanded that the PA arrest three members of the PFLP Israel claims were involved in the killing of Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi, shot three months ago in retaliation for the assassination by the Israeli army of PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa.
The PA has said repeatedly it does not know the whereabouts of the three PFLP activists.
"They want [Arafat] to act under duress in order to discredit him in the eyes of his people. The issue of the three PFLP members is only a red herring, a pretext used to justify Israel's criminal moves against our leadership," said PA information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Earlier, Sharon had ordered his troops to tighten the siege on Ramallah to prevent Arafat from traveling to Bethlehem to attend the traditional midnight Christmas mass at the Church of the Nativity. The draconian measure was castigated by the international community and criticised by many Israeli officials as "stupid" and "a public relations disaster."
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