Israeli Troops Snatch Palestinian Gunmen

Israeli undercover forces snatched two wounded Palestinian gunmen from their West Bank hospital beds in a pre-dawn raid Tuesday, the latest Israeli military operation in the wake of a deadly bus bombing a week ago.

The troops locked down the hospital, knocked on the door of the intensive care unit and carried the two men – members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a militant group loosely affiliated with Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction – out of the ward and into military ambulances, said a doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The men – Othman Younis, 27, and Fahid Bani-Odeh, 25 – are in Israel’s Beilinson Hospital and being treated for moderate injuries, military sources said.

Israel accuses Younis of helping to plan several attacks in which at least 10 people were killed, including an Aug. 12 suicide bombing that came in the middle of a ceasefire declared by the militant groups on June 29.

Younis and Bani-Odeh are “hardcore” members of Al Aqsa, said the group’s spokesman, Abu Mujahed. He confirmed that Younis helped plan the suicide bombing.

The truce collapsed last Thursday after Israel killed a top-ranking Hamas political leader in retaliation for a Jerusalem bus bombing a week ago in which 21 people were killed.

Since the bombing, Israel has killed two senior Hamas members – and another five activists in the group – in pinpoint missile strikes which marked the renewal of Israel’s policy to hunt down and kill militants. Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon has made clear that all members of the militant group are targets for “liquidation.”

The latest missile strike, on a Gaza beachfront late Sunday, forced senior Hamas members to go into hiding, while the group’s spokesmen turned off their phones. Hamas leaders were conspicuously absent from funerals Monday for the four men killed in Sunday’s missile strike.

Hamas leaflets hung in mosques throughout the Gaza Strip instructed members to take precautions – such as not traveling in groups, avoiding use of their telephones, using makeup to disguise themselves and staying off main streets – so as not to be easy targets for Israeli “assassination.”

Meanwhile, U.S.-backed Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas – who is trying to implement the so-called “road map” to Palestinian statehood – is also fighting off a campaign by Yasser Arafat to undermine him and reassert his authority over Palestinian security forces.

Most recently, Arafat appointed his former rival, Brig. Gen. Jibril Rajoub, to the vacant post of national security adviser. It was not clear that Arafat planned to use Rajoub to rein in militants and unify his security forces, two central demands in the U.S.-backed road map.

Although Arafat fired Rajoub from his job as West Bank security chief after a reportedly violent argument between the two in July 2002, Rajoub is also an adversary of Abbas and his security chief Mohammed Dahlan.

Secretary of State Colin Powell last week appealed in vain to Arafat to give Abbas full authority over security. But it appears Arafat hopes to undermine Abbas – who he appointed to the post of prime minister in April after intense U.S. pressure – through Rajoub, who is also popular with Israel and the United States.

Abbas has also been reluctant to crack down on militants, fearing it could spark civil war. He has appealed to Arafat to give him control of the key security branches, something he says is necessary to confront the militant groups.

Arafat also tried to get Gen. Nasser Yousef, a staunch supporter, appointed to the contentious post of interior minister, which Abbas has held onto since being appointed prime minister because of disagreements over what authority the post should have.

The issue has been “temporarily frozen,” after three dead-end meetings, said Abbas Zaki, a Fatah central committee member.

Abbas was planning to go to the Gaza Strip Tuesday to meet members of his Cabinet. He was also to meet with members of the Palestinian Legislative Council ahead of a planned speech next week in which Abbas is expected to reflect on his first 100 days in office, said Palestinian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants fired Qassam rockets and mortar bombs at Israeli towns along the border and Jewish settlements in the coastal strip, the army said.