In a three-week occupation of the biggest Palestinian city the Israeli army has killed 19 people, wrecked buildings and confined tens of thousands to their homes in a futile search for the leader of "the heart of the terror networks". Before Christmas soldiers flooded Nablus and the neighbouring refugee camp of Balata in pursuit of the leaders of al-Aqsa martyrs brigades responsible for organising dozens of suicide bombings. Top of their list was Naif Sharekh, the brigades commander in the city. Soldiers brandished Mr Sharekh's picture and demanded to know his whereabouts. His wife was paraded in a jeep through the casbah and forced to call over a megaphone for her husband to surrender.
In Balata the search focused on three al-Aqsa brigades leaders. Soldiers again brandished pictures and threatened anyone hiding the men. None was found. "They wound up killing all these people and they didn't get any of the ones they were really looking for," said Taysir Naserallah, head of Yasser Arafat's Fatah organisation in Nablus. "Naif Sharekh is still out there. That has provided people with satisfaction for all their misery."
The Israeli army commander in Nablus, who declines to be named, said the raid on the city was prompted by intelligence that three or four suicide bombers were preparing to leave to attack Israelis. "Nablus is the hottest and most dangerous town. Most of the suicide bombers are in Nablus," he said. The army said the Christmas Day suicide bomb that killed four people near Tel Aviv proved its point. The Palestinians said that attack came after the raid on Nablus began. There had been no bombings for almost three months. |