Adam
08-06-02, 07:58 AM
Palestinian militiaman killed by Israeli troops; high court upholds house demolitions
By NICOLE WINFIELD
The Associated Press
8/6/02 4:20 AM
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the practice of demolishing homes of Palestinian terror suspects without warning, and Israeli troops killed a West Bank militiaman suspected of sending two suicide bombers to Tel Aviv.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a suspected weapons factory late Monday, lightly injuring four people and damaging three buildings. It was the first airstrike against Gaza since July 22 when a one-ton bomb dropped by an F-16 killed 15 Palestinians, including a key Hamas military leader and nine children.
Despite the ongoing violence, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer met with the Palestinian interior minister, Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, late Monday to discuss cease-fire plans that could lead to Israeli troops to leave some Palestinian areas. The Gaza Strip and several West Bank towns were mentioned as possible starting points.
Yehiyeh and other Palestinian officials are to meet later this week with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington.
In Jerusalem, Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a petition by Palestinian relatives of terror suspects whose homes are slated for demolition by the Israeli military. Petitioners asked for 48 hours notice to give them time to go to court to stop demolitions. The military said soldiers would be put at risk if warning was given.
Earlier this week, Israeli troops demolished nine homes of terror suspects, reviving a controversial practice that had been abandoned several years earlier. Human rights groups say house demolitions constitute collective punishment and violate international law. The Israeli government said it is engaged in a war against terrorism, and that house demolitions are an important deterrent.
Also Tuesday, two Palestinian militiamen were killed in a village near the West Bank town of Jenin in what witnesses said was a three-hour attack by Israeli tanks, jeeps and helicopters. The army had no immediate comment.
One of the militiamen was identified as Ali Ajouri, 23, accused by Israel of having dispatched two suicide bombers who blew themselves up in Tel Aviv on July 17. Three foreign workers and two Israelis were killed in the attack.
The military recently demolished the home of Ajouri's family in the Askar refugee camp near Nablus. A brother and sister of Ajouri have been ordered deported to the Gaza Strip, but the order is being challenged in court. Ajouri was a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
In Monday's missile strike in Gaza, four people were lightly injured when Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at a spare parts factory in Gaza City's Zeitouni neighborhood, which is known as a Hamas hub. Salim Bahtiti, 25, son of the factory owner, denied the shop was used to make weapons.
Since the July 22 airstrike, the Islamic militant group Hamas has claimed responsibility for two deadly attacks: a bombing at Jerusalem's Hebrew University that killed seven people, five of them Americans, and a suicide bombing on a bus Sunday that killed nine passengers. In all, Sunday's toll reached 13, with shooting attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Three assailants were also killed.
Following the attacks, Israel on Monday said it would bar Palestinian travel in much of the northern West Bank and it sent tanks to seal off the town of Rafah and a nearby refugee camp in southern Gaza.
The measures broaden the already tight restrictions Israel has imposed on seven major West Bank cities and towns it occupied in June in a bid to stop terror attacks, including rolling curfews that keep Palestinians at home for days on end.
Under the new travel ban, Palestinians will not be able to drive in the northern half of the West Bank, between the towns of Nablus, Jenin, Qalqiliya, Tulkarem and Ramallah, the army said. Some movement will be permitted in the southern West Bank, including the towns of Hebron, Bethlehem and Jericho.
Hours after the clampdown was announced, a car exploded in northern Israel, killing one person and injuring another. Police and rescue officials said it appeared the slain passenger was a Palestinian militant en route to carrying out an attack.
In the Balata neighborhood of Nablus, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy who was outside his home while the curfew was on, doctors said. The army said it was checking the report.
In Egypt, meanwhile, President Hosni Mubarak invited Arafat and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to peace talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Officials from both sides said they had received no formal invitation.
Source. (http://www.nj.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0462_BC_Israel-Palestinians&&news&newsflash-international)
By NICOLE WINFIELD
The Associated Press
8/6/02 4:20 AM
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the practice of demolishing homes of Palestinian terror suspects without warning, and Israeli troops killed a West Bank militiaman suspected of sending two suicide bombers to Tel Aviv.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a suspected weapons factory late Monday, lightly injuring four people and damaging three buildings. It was the first airstrike against Gaza since July 22 when a one-ton bomb dropped by an F-16 killed 15 Palestinians, including a key Hamas military leader and nine children.
Despite the ongoing violence, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer met with the Palestinian interior minister, Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, late Monday to discuss cease-fire plans that could lead to Israeli troops to leave some Palestinian areas. The Gaza Strip and several West Bank towns were mentioned as possible starting points.
Yehiyeh and other Palestinian officials are to meet later this week with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington.
In Jerusalem, Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a petition by Palestinian relatives of terror suspects whose homes are slated for demolition by the Israeli military. Petitioners asked for 48 hours notice to give them time to go to court to stop demolitions. The military said soldiers would be put at risk if warning was given.
Earlier this week, Israeli troops demolished nine homes of terror suspects, reviving a controversial practice that had been abandoned several years earlier. Human rights groups say house demolitions constitute collective punishment and violate international law. The Israeli government said it is engaged in a war against terrorism, and that house demolitions are an important deterrent.
Also Tuesday, two Palestinian militiamen were killed in a village near the West Bank town of Jenin in what witnesses said was a three-hour attack by Israeli tanks, jeeps and helicopters. The army had no immediate comment.
One of the militiamen was identified as Ali Ajouri, 23, accused by Israel of having dispatched two suicide bombers who blew themselves up in Tel Aviv on July 17. Three foreign workers and two Israelis were killed in the attack.
The military recently demolished the home of Ajouri's family in the Askar refugee camp near Nablus. A brother and sister of Ajouri have been ordered deported to the Gaza Strip, but the order is being challenged in court. Ajouri was a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
In Monday's missile strike in Gaza, four people were lightly injured when Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at a spare parts factory in Gaza City's Zeitouni neighborhood, which is known as a Hamas hub. Salim Bahtiti, 25, son of the factory owner, denied the shop was used to make weapons.
Since the July 22 airstrike, the Islamic militant group Hamas has claimed responsibility for two deadly attacks: a bombing at Jerusalem's Hebrew University that killed seven people, five of them Americans, and a suicide bombing on a bus Sunday that killed nine passengers. In all, Sunday's toll reached 13, with shooting attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Three assailants were also killed.
Following the attacks, Israel on Monday said it would bar Palestinian travel in much of the northern West Bank and it sent tanks to seal off the town of Rafah and a nearby refugee camp in southern Gaza.
The measures broaden the already tight restrictions Israel has imposed on seven major West Bank cities and towns it occupied in June in a bid to stop terror attacks, including rolling curfews that keep Palestinians at home for days on end.
Under the new travel ban, Palestinians will not be able to drive in the northern half of the West Bank, between the towns of Nablus, Jenin, Qalqiliya, Tulkarem and Ramallah, the army said. Some movement will be permitted in the southern West Bank, including the towns of Hebron, Bethlehem and Jericho.
Hours after the clampdown was announced, a car exploded in northern Israel, killing one person and injuring another. Police and rescue officials said it appeared the slain passenger was a Palestinian militant en route to carrying out an attack.
In the Balata neighborhood of Nablus, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy who was outside his home while the curfew was on, doctors said. The army said it was checking the report.
In Egypt, meanwhile, President Hosni Mubarak invited Arafat and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to peace talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Officials from both sides said they had received no formal invitation.
Source. (http://www.nj.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0462_BC_Israel-Palestinians&&news&newsflash-international)