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Israeli Tanks Enter Palestinian-Controlled Area in West Bank
The Israeli army Monday afternoon sent tanks to the outskirts of the West Bank city of Tulkarm to destroy an outpost of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's personal guard Force 17, an army spokeswoman said.
She denied that Israeli soldiers were intended to enter the Palestinian area, saying that the area is on the border between Area A, which should be under total Palestinian control, and Area B, whose security should be controlled by Israel.
Chances were that during the operation, the army tanks may briefly enter Area A, She added.
She stressed that the operation only took place in response to a shooting incident in the area earlier Monday, in which two Israeli motorists were shot by Palestinian gunmen and lightly injured by shards of glass.
Israel Radio quoted Palestinian sources as saying that the tanks fired shells at the outpost and destroyed it completely. At least one Palestinian was wounded, the radio added.
The spokeswoman blamed Palestinian security forces guarding the outpost for failing to arrest the Palestinian gunmen who fled to Tulkarm after the shooting incident.
The Monday afternoon's operation followed an earlier maneuver in the West Bank city of Hebron, in which at least two Palestinian outposts were destroyed by Israeli armored vehicles and nine Palestinians were injured.
Last Thursday, the Israeli army also briefly reoccupied a Palestinian-controlled area in Hebron in response to two shooting incidents, in which two Israelis were shot dead.
Those operations in the past week indicated a new trend in the nine-month-old violence between the two sides that Israel has stepped up its "retaliation" measures against Palestinians, though it still pledged to implement a ceasefire reached with the Palestinians last month.
The U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect on June 13, but clashes between the two sides have never stopped since then.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer warned on Sunday that Israel will harshly respond to Palestinian attacks even the attacks caused no Israeli casualties.
Over 600 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed in the violence since its outbreak late last September.
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