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Israeli Incursion Into Palestinian Territories Could Escalate Conflict: US Ambassador
Israel's military incursions into the Palestinian-controlled territories could lead to the further escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer said on Tuesday.
Such actions of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) could only make the situation more complicated, and so that Israel should stop its military incursions into the Palestinian-controlled, Kurtzer told Israeli President Moshe Katsav.
Katsav's Office said that the U.S. ambassador asked for the meeting with Katsav, in which the U.S. envoy expressed the U.S. concern about Israel's targeted killings of prominent Palestinian figures and the IDF's incursions into the Palestinian-controlled territories.
But Katsav defended Israel's military actions against the Palestinians, saying that such actions are aimed at preventing the Palestinians from attacking Israeli civilians.
He added that anyway, the IDF's military incursion into the Palestinian village of Beit Jalla will not last long and the Israeli soldiers will pull out from the village after they have completed their mission.
The IDF, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, entered the village south of Jerusalem in the small hours of Tuesday and held Palestinian positions there since then.
The army said that it dose not intend to remain in Beit Jalla, and would like to leave in the next few days pending a total cessation of Palestinian attacks on the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo near Jerusalem.
But an official from the Prime Minister's Office said Tuesday that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was expected to convene the security cabinet Tuesday to discuss whether to maintain IDF's presence in Beit Jalla or to withdraw the troops currently positioned there.
On Tuesday morning, the Palestinian gunmen resumed shooting at Gilo, while the IDF positions near the Rachel's Tomb on the northern edge of the West Bank city of Bethlehem were also under fire.
The Israeli soldiers returned fire, but there were no reports of casualties from both sides, the army added.
Israeli troops and tanks also thrust into the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza overnight, and tore down eight homes which Israel claims were used by Palestinian gunmen to attack the IDF positions. The forces withdrew after completing the operation.
Palestinian sources reported that 22 people were injured during the thrust into Rafah, four of them seriously, adding that eight tanks and several bulldozers destroyed 14 homes and damaged 20 more in the refugee camp.
Heavy exchange of fire between Palestinian gunmen in Beit Jalla and the Israeli soldiers in Gilo began Monday evening, after the IDF assassinated Abu Ali Mustafa, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah earlier in the day.
In another development, the IDF tanks destroyed a Palestinian roadblock in the West Bank city of Nablus Tuesday morning.
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