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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Four killed in West Bank violence |
| 2005-10-16 |
| PALESTINIAN gunmen killed three Israelis in a drive-by shooting and Israeli troops shot dead a senior Palestinian militant in an eruption of violence in the occupied West Bank today. The killings, a month after Israel completed a pullout from the Gaza Strip, tore at a flimsy ceasefire and raised fears of a resurgence in violence in the West Bank where Jewish settlements continue to grow on land Palestinians want for a state. Hoped-for peacemaking momentum from the withdrawal has not transpired. A Middle East summit has been postponed. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet US President George W Bush this week to discuss how to resuscitate a "road map" peace plan. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed wing of Mr Abbas' Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the shootings outside Gush Etzion settlement bloc and Eli settlement, the first of their kind in four months. "This is taste of even more to come," al-Aqsa said in a statement, calling the attacks revenge for Israel's killing of militants. Israeli officials said the army would reimpose some restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank that had been lifted as part of rapprochement efforts in recent months. A Defence Ministry source said troops would encircle major West Bank cities and require that Palestinians travel between them by public transportation only, rather than private cars. "We will reconsider this measure if the Palestinian Authority cracks down on terrorists," the source said. In the far north of the West Bank, Israeli troops shot dead an Islamic Jihad militant commander after he opened fire on them, Palestinian witnesses and Israeli military sources said. There were no Israeli casualties in the clash, south of Jenin. Three Israelis were killed in the Gush Etzion attack and four were hurt, medics said. Minutes later, Palestinian gunmen fired on a road junction outside Eli, wounding two Israelis. The identities of the casualties were not immediately clear. "A Palestinian passed by in a car, let off a burst of fire, and struck down people standing at the hitchhiking post," Shaul Goldstein, a settler leader in Gush Etzion, told Israel Radio. Palestinian militants had vowed to avenge a series of Israeli army arrest raids that netted hundreds of their comrades in the West Bank since the Gaza pullout. The ambushes could embarrass Mr Abbas just before his talks with Mr Bush at the White House on Thursday. Mr Abbas has been under US and Israeli pressure to rein in and disarm militants as a condition for "road map" negotiations on Palestinian statehood. |
| Posted by:God Save The World AKA Oztralian |
| #1 Palestinian militants had vowed to avenge a series of Israeli army arrest raids that netted hundreds of their comrades in the West Bank since the Gaza pullout. So Paleos "avenge" arrests by killing Jewish civilians? Seems to me the IDF would do well to kill every single terrorist that comes into their sights, no questions asked. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-10-16 21:20 |