Israeli troops continued Sunday to carry out their raids throughout the West Bank. Soldiers were operating in Nablus, and its Balata refugee camp, after arresting hundreds of Palestinians over the weekend in Tulkarem, Qalqilya, and Bethlehem.
In the largest raid, Israeli troops searched house-to-house for a third day Sunday in the Balata refugee camp. Israel said about 50 Palestinian suspects were detained there and a bomb-making workshop was found, and then demolished in a controlled explosion. Palestinians said that hundreds of men were rounded up Friday in the camp and about 100 were taken in trucks to a nearby military base for interrogation.
On Sunday, Israeli troops arrested another 10 Palestinians, a military spokesman said. "The 10 Palestinians arrested in Nablus were wanted for activities hostile to Israel," the spokesman said.
Elsewhere, Palestinians fired two mortars Sunday at a Gush Katif settlement in the Gaza Strip. One of the mortar shells landed near a school, and a 10-year-old student ran for broke his arm while running for shelter.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it had "mistakenly" destroyed the gates of a disused orthodox church near the West Bank town of Ramallah before dawn Saturday, while Palestinians accused the army of destroying the church.
"It was very dark and the soldiers couldn't see anything identifying the structure, there was no sign showing it was a religious place," an army spokeswoman said. She added that the troops had been looking for Palestinian suspects seen earlier carrying flags of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
However, residents of Abud village and Palestinian officials told AFP the church had been destroyed by the army's explosives. Village resident Bilad Barghuti said he had been awoken by the blast. "All the people of Abud were woken up by the sound of the explosion which completely destroyed the church," he told the news agency.
A statement from the Palestinian ministry of tourism said the church was one of four in and around the village near Ramallah, which had historical and religious significance. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
