Israel Invades Hebron after US Plan Accepted

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 29, 2002

Israel Invades Hebron after US Plan Accepted

Israeli tanks rolled into the West Bank city of Hebron early Monday, just as Israel's large-scale military operation in the West Bank appeared to be drawing to a close.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Israeli tanks rolled into the West Bank city of Hebron early Monday, just as Israel's large-scale military operation in the West Bank appeared to be drawing to a close.

The tanks moved in from four directions and occupied more than half of the Palestinian part of the divided city, witnesses said. Soldiers declared a curfew, confining Palestinians to their homes. Israeli troops usually control about 20 percent of Hebron, guarding three enclaves where Jewish settlers live.

One Palestinian, a member of one of the security forces, was killed and at least 15 others wounded, Palestinians said, most of them by gunfire from Israeli helicopters. Also, a local leader of the militant Hamas was arrested, they said. Israel Radio said ``a number'' of Palestinians were killed.

The Israeli military said the incursion, which began at 4:30 a.m. (0130 GMT), followed the ``cruel massacre carried out Saturday morning'' at the nearby settlement of Adora, when Palestinian infiltrators killed four people, including a 5-year-old girl. Hamas claimed responsibility.

A military statement said the purpose was to arrest militants and search for weapons and the ``terrorist infrastructure.''

The description was similar to the definition of Israel's invasion of other West Bank cities a month ago, a response to a series of Palestinian suicide bombings. However, the statement early Monday said the Hebron operation was ``for a limited time.''

Hebron the only main West Bank population center that escaped Israel's large-scale military push that began March 29. Israeli troops also bypassed the desert oasis town of Jericho during the operation, which had appeared to be ending.

On Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian leaders accepted a US compromise plan, aimed at ending Israel's monthlong siege of Yasser Arafat's Ramallah office.

However, a standoff continued in Bethlehem, and Israel barred a UN commission from examining the Jenin refugee camp, site of a bloody battle.

Israel gave in to US President George W. Bush, who stepped in to ease the tense confrontation that has made Arafat a virtual prisoner, with Israeli tanks and troops surrounding his office in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

As a condition for lifting the blockade, Israel demanded that Arafat hand over five Palestinians suspected of assassinating Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi on Oct. 17 in Jerusalem, as well as the alleged mastermind of a sea-borne Palestinian arms shipment intercepted by the Israeli navy in January.

The Palestinians refused, and in a pre-emptive step, put four of the suspects in the assassination on trial. In a lightning procedure in Arafat's battered compound, security officers serving as judges sentenced them to one to 18 years in prison.

Interim peace accords say if the Palestinians put suspects on trial, they do not have to hand them over to Israel. But Israel refused to recognize the trial, and the crisis deepened.

But in a series of phone calls this weekend, Bush pressed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to accept a compromise _ the six would be held in Palestinian custody under supervision of American and British officials. Bush also invited Sharon to Washington for talks, Sharon's spokesman said. The White House said the date of the visit would be set on Monday.

After a long debate, Sharon persuaded his Cabinet to go along with the Bush plan. A few hours later, the British and US consuls met Arafat, and Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said the Palestinian leader accepted the plan.

``We expect the siege imposed on President Arafat's office to be lifted the day after tomorrow,'' Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said late Sunday. He said ``technical details'' still had to be worked out.

Israeli Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin said Israel went along with the US plan in the hope that the Americans would stand by Israel in its dispute with the United Nations over a fact-finding mission planned for the Jenin refugee camp.

Israel in effect banned the team from arriving. Sharon's spokesman, Arnon Perlman, said Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told the head of the mission that its arrival would be delayed until there is agreement on the scope of its activities and its composition.

Israel charges that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan went back on understandings with Israel over the mission, which is to inspect the Jenin camp, scene of a bloody eight-day battle. Israel wants the inquiry to concentrate on the Palestinian terror infrastructure in the camp and demands that team members have expertise in terrorism.

Palestinian Cabinet Secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman accused Israel of trying to make the committee meaningless. ``They claim there is nothing to hide,'' he said. ``What then is the explanation of all these obstacles in front of the committee to prevent it from starting its mission?''

Both two sides continue to trade charges over what happened in the battle, which ended April 11. Palestinians charged that Israeli soldiers massacred hundreds of civilians. Israel countered that dozens of Palestinians were killed, most of them gunmen and bombers. Israel lost 23 soldiers in the battle.

So far 48 bodies have been recovered from the rubble in the middle of the camp, where Israeli bulldozers knocked down buildings. Human rights groups have said there is no evidence of a massacre but have been harshly critical of Israel because of the destruction.

In Bethlehem, no progress was reported in another day of negotiations aimed at ending a standoff between Palestinian gunmen holed up in the Church of the Nativity and Israeli forces outside. The gunmen were among more than 200 people who took refuge in the church April 2, fleeing invading Israeli troops and tanks.

Israel demands that the gunmen surrender or accept exile; the Palestinians propose that the men be transported to the Gaza Strip.

For the first time since the siege began, Father Ibrahim Faltas, who is in charge of the church that marks the traditional birthplace of Jesus, left the shrine to conduct Sunday services at a nearby church. He then returned to the 4th-century holy site, pointing out that his movements countered the Israeli claim that he and about 30 other clerics were being held hostage.

Agencies

Questions?Comments? Click here

Israel Agrees to End Siege at Arafat's Compound

Israel Accepts Bush's Proposal on Transferring Ze'evi Killers

Bush Hails Deal to End Arafat's Siege As "Hopeful Day"

>> Full Coverage

China's First Magnetic Suspension Test Track Built ( 4 Messages)

"Washington Times" at Anti-China Tricks Again ( 5 Messages)

Know Who to Love, Who to Hate ( 65 Messages)

Jiang Calls for Joint Efforts Towards Growth of Sino-US Ties ( 13 Messages)

Protests Prompt Retailer to Pull T-shirts Mocking Chinese-Americans ( 149 Messages)