Israeli troops imposed a curfew on downtown Nablus and clashed with Fatah militants as the army's activities moved Thursday from Gaza to the West Bank. The Nablus raid was an indication that Israel will not stop fighting militants linked to President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement — even though Israel is supporting Abbas in his struggle against Hamas, the Islamic group that seized control of the Gaza Strip two weeks ago.
| That's odd, dontcha think? The Israelis are working closely with Abu Mazen and have released hundreds of millions of shekels and tons of weapons to Fatah, and then for NO REASON AT ALL the IDF goes into Nablus and start thumping heads? |
| Hmmm. Maybe there WAS a reason. Go figger. |
In one possible indication of its likely fate, a Fatah militant in the West Bank town of Jenin told The Associated Press that while he supported Abbas' decree, his men would not lay down their arms because they were needed to fight Israel.
The spike in violence Wednesday came after two detachments of troops pushed into Gaza and scoured areas near the Gaza-Israel border for gunmen, weapons and tunnels that could be used to attack Israeli positions, detaining several dozen Palestinians for questioning, the army said. The army said the operation was no larger in scope than other sweeps in recent months, crediting the high number of Palestinian fatalities to stiff resistance from militants.
Most of the dozens of rockets fired at Israel's southern towns in recent weeks were launched by the smaller Islamic Jihad group, which also has taken to shelling border crossings used to send humanitarian aid from Israel into Gaza.