A rchive Date
[ 13-04-2002 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Palestine ]
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[http://canoe.ca/Canoe/canoecnews.html
Arafat condemns Jerusalem suicide bombing
Saturday, Apr. 13, 2002
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Apparently giving in to U.S. demands, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat released a statement in Arabic on Saturday condemning a Jerusalem suicide bombing, as Israeli forces moved into more West Bank villages and shelled Palestinian offices.
Meanwhile, Palestinians surveyed the devastation in some of the areas hardest hit in Israel's two-week-old West Bank offensive. One man in Nablus said eight relatives, including a pregnant woman, were crushed when Israeli bulldozers demolished an empty building near their home. Israel said it was unaware of the deaths.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is visiting Israel on a mission to bring about a halt to the violence, had cancelled a scheduled Saturday meeting with Arafat and said there would be no meeting until the Palestinian leader condemned terrorism and Friday's bombing, which killed six Israelis in a crowded outdoor market in Jerusalem.
"We are condemning strongly all the attacks which are targeting civilians from both sides and especially the attack that took place against Israeli citizens yesterday in Jerusalem," Arafat's statement said. It was released on the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA.
A senior U.S. official travelling with Powell said the Bush administration was reviewing Arafat's statement to see if it was strong enough to earn Arafat a meeting with Powell, possibly on Sunday.
Sporadic fighting took place in several West Bank areas Saturday. The fiercest was in Nablus, the area's largest city, where seven Israeli tanks shelled the local Palestinian government complex, punching big holes in the building, witnesses said.
Palestinians say many civilians have been killed in the Israeli operation, launched on March 29 to wipe out militant networks in the West Bank after a series of suicide bombings.
Powell is pressing for a quick end to the campaign, a ceasefire and a fresh start to peace negotiations.
U.S. President George W. Bush has demanded Israel withdraw from the West Bank "without delay," but troops remained firmly encamped in Nablus and the other three main Palestinian cities: Bethlehem, Ramallah and Jenin. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said the campaign will continue until Palestinian militias behind attacks on Israelis are crushed.
Israeli forces pulled out of one town - Dahariyeh - on Saturday, but the army said tanks moved into the villages of Burkin and Arabe, both near Jenin. They also took over Bier Nabala, near Ramallah, and Beit Eba, el-Baidan and Beit Wazan, near Nablus. Witnesses said troops occupied Hashimiyah, outside Jenin, but the army would not confirm the report.
In Burkin, soldiers used loudspeakers to warn the town's 5,000 residents not to leave their homes. Residents said about 75 families from the Jenin refugee camp were in the town.
Powell on Saturday met with humanitarian groups and with Christian leaders, who gave him a proposal that called for a three-day truce in Bethlehem, where a standoff continued at the Church of the Nativity, one of Christianity's holiest sites.
Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers were circling the church compound, and soldiers made calls through the night for the 200 armed Palestinians holed up inside to surrender.
Under the Christians' truce plan, the Israeli army would withdraw from the city, and the Palestinian Authority would collect the militants' weapons and allow the gunmen to go home. The Israeli Foreign Ministry would not comment on the proposal.
The Israeli campaign in the West Bank has included mass arrests, with more than 4,000 people detained, gunbattles and the demolition of homes and buildings deemed to be militant bases, hideouts or explosives laboratories.
In Nablus, Mahmoud Shobi, 35, said the compound of his brother and father was toppled on April 5 when Israeli bulldozers demolished an empty building next door.
Mahmoud Shobi said the demolition killed his brother Samer Shobi, 49, his pregnant wife, Nabela, 40, and the couple's three sons, Abdelallah, 8, Azam, 6, and Anas, 4. He said it also killed his 85-year-old father, Omar, and his two sisters, Fatamah, 55, and Abeer, 36. He said there were no militants in the compound.
The bodies - found late Friday and early Saturday - were taken to the Nablus hospital. Officials there confirmed the deaths.
The Israeli army said it was unaware of the deaths of the Shobi family. Military officials said the only building demolished April 5 in the neighbourhood was an explosives lab, and the military knew nothing about the collapse of the Shobi family compound.
The military said it was "unlikely" the demolition work collapsed the family's residence because an army engineer ensured surrounding buildings would not be in danger. People in the neighbourhood were also warned about it, the army said.
Mahmoud Shobi did not believe the Israeli explanation. "They have to know they killed people, but the Israelis didn't care," he said.
He said it took days to find his family members because he couldn't go out during the strict curfew and phone lines were cut. He said he had assumed his family was safe in a school where Israeli authorities had sent residents until fierce fighting in the city died down a few days ago.
Sheik Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas, called Friday's bombing punishment for Israel's military offensive. "If Israel thinks that after what they did in Jenin and Nablus they will not be punished, they are mistaken," Yassin said.
Israel's military has flatly denied Palestinian allegations that the military killed hundreds of civilians in Jenin and was trying to hide the bodies.
Army officials have estimated that about 100 Palestinians were killed in the camp. The army has not allowed Palestinian emergency services to enter the camp to verify the deaths
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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