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Middle East
IDF quits Jenin
2002-04-20
  • The IDF pulled out of Jenin and its adjoining refugee camp late Thursday night, taking up positions on the outskirts of both. Troops are also to withdraw from Nablus in the next few days - before Sunday, according to Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who said Operation Defensive Shield has achieved most its potential. Withdrawals from the Ramallah area and Bethlehem are also possible.

    Troops leaving the cities they occupied in the operation to rout out Palestinian terrorists and destroy their infrastructure will set up new positions on the outskirts of those cities and impose a tight blockade around them. Anticipating future fighting, Ben-Eliezer said he prefers to call the withdrawal a “redeployment. "The Palestinians have not responded to the demands of US Secretary of State Colin Powell to halt the terrorism and, in practice, they are not prepared to enter into the Tenet and Mitchell plans," he said. "We are asking ourselves what will be afterward... therefore I said 'redeployment' and not 'withdrawal.'"

    In fact, the IDF has begun to deliver emergency call-up orders to the more than 5,000 reservists it plans to enlist this coming week for the continuation of Operation Defensive Shield.
    Toldja so. You heard it here first. Well, maybe you read it here first.
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

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