Israel’s cabinet minister Ephraim Sneh said Wednesday that at this stage, Israel had no plans to take action against the Lebanese Hizbullah, even if it were proven that the this group had links to the Tuesday shooting attack in which two gunmen killed six Israelis near the border with Lebanon.
The gunmen were dressed in Israeli military uniforms. Despite the proximity to the border, Israeli sources suspect they were West Bank Palestinians affiliated with the Fatah, through the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which claimed responsibility for the attack in a leaflet delivered to the Qatari Al Jazeera TV news offices in Ramallah Tuesday afternoon. However, according to Israeli media reports, security sources said there appeared to be a link with Hizbullah, which has intensified its attacks along the border in recent weeks.
As of last night, the Israeli army had not firmly established the identity of the two gunmen, with sources saying that the attackers' organization may have deliberately kept their identity secret as long as Israeli forces were in Ramallah, reported Haaretz. The Al Aksa brigades leaflet said the attack was in retaliation for the Israeli incursion in Ramallah and "the massacre" in the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza.
Meeting Wednesday on the eve of the expected arrival of U.S. special Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni, Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's security cabinet is to discuss Israeli operations against the Palestinians and the possibility that Hizbullah may be attempting to open a new front on the northern border in order to aid Palestinian activists fighting in the West Bank and Gaza.
"Hizbullah is interested in opening an additional front on the Lebanon border," Sneh, a member of the security cabinet, told Army Radio before the meeting. "At the moment we have a clear interest in not widening the fighting, so that we can concentrate on and make achievements on what currently appears to us the main front."
On Tuesday morning, before the shooting attack, a senior Military Intelligence officer told the Israeli Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense committee that Hizbullah was planning an attack in the north in the hope of "igniting the northern front. They have plans to attack within the next few days. When there's an escalation with the Palestinians, they try to heat up the border."
Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz, who spoke to the committee after the Military Intelligence officer, before the attack - said Hizbullah wants to conduct "solidarity" operations with the Palestinians to drag Israel into a fight on the northern border.
Meanwhile in Beirut, the head of Hizbullah’s politburo said Tuesday that its defense of the Palestinian people was a “religious and Islamic duty” in response to recent remarks by US Ambassador to Lebanon, Vincent Battle.
In the statement, Ibrahim Amin Sayyed said true terrorism was providing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with arms to carry out his “criminal aggression” against Palestinians.
Battle said Monday that the United States was deeply “troubled” by Hizbullah’s activities.
Hizbullah’s deputy secretary-general, Sheikh Naim Qassem, pledged to support the Palestinians, “who are working on behalf of all and defending all Arab and Islamic countries targeted by the Zionist expansionist project.”
“Arabs and Muslims commit a sin when they fail to support (the Palestinians) in any way,” Qassem said during a ceremony held in Damascus on Tuesday.
“How can Israel have the right to own 200 nuclear warheads and many planes, tanks and missiles as well as bombs and use all US capacities to kill innocent people, whereas the Palestinian people do not have the right to own any missiles, explosives or grenades to defend themselves?” Qassem asked.
The Palestinian people had the right to defend their land, he was quoted as saying by the Daily Star. Qassem said the resistance, not international resolutions, would liberate the occupied territories.
According to Qassem, Sharon’s situation was deteriorating while Palestinians were “making progress.”
He said Sharon’s popularity among Israelis was less than 50 percent, down 20 or 30 percent from previous polls, due to his failure to keep his promises of establishing security and a prosperous economy. Qassem called for more resistance, adding that Hizbullah was “proud” of being part of the fight against Israel. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
