Three Palestinians shot dead Monday in the re-occupied city of Tulkarem and Ramallah.
A 19-year-old gunman was killed and a 42-year-old civilian was critically wounded and later died during exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and armed Palestinians in Tulkarem. At least 15 more people were wounded by gunfire. In another incident, a Palestinian policeman was also killed in a gunbattle with Israeli occupation troops in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said Monday he would keep working to establish the Palestinian independent state with holy Jerusalem as its capital.
Arafat Comments
In Ramallah, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said Monday he would keep working to establish the Palestinian independent state with holy Jerusalem as its capital despite all the difficulties and the occupation aggression. `The Palestinian state will be established with al-Quds al-Sharif (Jerusalem) as its capital. By God I see it coming, martyred or alive,'' Arafat told a group of Palestinian intellectuals who came to support him and the national leadership.
“We do not know how to retreat, we know how to advance,'' the President added.
In a related development, Arafat's media adviser Nabil Abu Rudeineh announced that the Palestinian leadership is conducting consultations on the possibility of referring to the UN Security Council for supporting the Palestinian demand of dispatching international forces in view of the Israeli military escalation. He added that the Israeli reoccupation of Tulkarem is a challenge to the international efforts and aims at dragging the region into the cycle of violence and farther explosions.
Abu Rudeineh expressed sorrow regarding the Israeli behavior, which sounds as a result of an American green light as there is an absence and lagging in the American role. He urged for an immediate return of the American envoy gen. Zinni, as the American Administration is the only side able to stop the Israeli aggression.
Tulkarem Reoccupation
A Palestinian teenager was killed Monday morning during fire exchange incidents at Tulkarem after Israeli military forces re-occupied this Palestinian city, local hospital officials said. Haldun Maarik, 19, died after being shot in the head by Israeli troops. In addition, at least 15 other Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, including a 42-year-old man, Jamal Hasuneh, who was clinically dead, hospital officials told AFP.
Early Monday, Israeli occupation forces besieged Tulkarem refugee camp with tanks and armored vehicles massed causing clashes between the Palestinian residents and the Israeli forces. According to KUNA, the Israeli army positioned six tanks on the east side of the Nur A Shams refugee camp and another four on the west side, in addition to deployment of other forces that triggered confrontations with Palestinian activists, eye witnesses said. The Israeli forces detained at least ten Palestinian activists, including three Hamas members.
Tulkarem's Palestinian Authority Governor Izzadine Sharif said tanks entered the town from all directions shortly after 3 A.M., as four helicopters flew above. Another Palestinian security official said about 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers took part in the raid. Israeli forces took over the house of Tulkarem mayor Mahmoud al-Jalad and the local offices of the Palestinian Legislative council, the acting parliament, Palestinian officials added.
Sharif added soldiers imposed a curfew, then moved from house to house, looking for suspects. Residents were ordered outside while troops searched their houses, Sharif conveyed, adding that he could hear the sound of sporadic gunfire. Additionally, Israeli troops surrounded the two adjacent Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps, the governor said.
Israeli authorities said in an official statement that “This city produced a large number of terror attacks that cost the lives of many Israelis. This city was also the place from where the terrorist who carried out the shooting terror attack in Hadera last Thursday exited, in which six Israelis were killed and thirty were wounded.” “The activity in the city will last until the completion of the search and detention of the terrorists,” concluded this statement.
It is reported that prisoners in Tulkarm jail, mainly members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, fled their cells when Israeli bombs blew up the prison's doors and windows. Palestinian security officials did not reveal the number of those who managed to escape, but did mention that many of the escapees had offered to turn themselves in once Israeli occupation ended.
The jail is part of a security base linked to the governor's headquarters, which was bombed by the Israel.
Barghouti: Israel Preparing Justification For My Assassination
Marwan Barghouti, Secretary of the Fatah Movement in the West Bank, claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Sharon is responsible for the shooting attack which was carried out in Hadera by a Palestinian as a revenge attack for the killing last week of Raed al-Karmi, at the hands of the Israeli occupation army.
During an interview with Monte Carlo Radio Sunday, Barghouti said that Sharon is the one who gave the orders to assassinate al-Karmi, destroy Palestinian houses in Rafah and occupied Jerusalem and kill children and women. He added that Sharon is the one who sent his tanks to raze and destroy the Palestinian lands.
Barghouti stressed that last August, he was subject to more than one Israeli assassination attempt, indicating that what Israel is propagating now about his responsibility for attacks against it, is in order to arrange a justification for an assassination plan prepared by the occupation army against him. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
