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Palestinian Forces Begin Gaza Strip Raids

Posted on: Saturday, 23 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

Palestinian security forces began a series of raids in the Gaza Strip, seizing weapons and arresting suspects, a Palestinian security official said.

Security forces also closed three tunnels used to smuggle weapons and drugs across from Egypt, the official said on condition of anonymity. The crackdown began Saturday afternoon and came on the orders of the Palestinian leadership, the official said.

It was not clear whether the raids marked the start of a clampdown on militants demanded by Israel and the United States. Such a campaign could help defuse growing tension, triggered by a Hamas bombing of a Jerusalem bus this week and the killing of a Hamas leader in an Israeli missile strike.

The violence threatens to sink a U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan that envisions Palestinian statehood by 2005.

Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir said Saturday's action was not enough, and Israel expects Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan to arrest those involved in violence against Israel.

"We expect Dahlan to take his 20,000 troops and to start making arrests of the terrorists," he said. "We don't need any more words."

Palestinian legislator Saeb Erekat said the closure of the tunnels reflects the Palestinian Authority's determination to enforce the law.

"The obstacle to this (crackdown) now is the Israeli policy of incursions, assassinations, building walls and noncompliance with the road map," he said.

An Israeli security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Dahlan has promised to take action against weapons smugglers.

Dahlan also has ordered forces to prevent the firing of homemade rockets from Gaza at Israel, the Israeli official said on condition of anonymity. Such rocket fire in recent days prompted Israel to send tanks to the edges of Gaza, signaling that it might retake parts of the strip if the shelling continues.

"We received messages from the Palestinians, through the Americans, that Dahlan promises to act tonight against the tunnels," the official said. "This week, he will take control of Hamas and Islamic Jihad installations in Gaza and will confiscate their weapons."

On Saturday evening, security forces shut down two tunnels used for smuggling weapons and drugs from Egypt into the Gaza Strip at the southern town of Rafah, security officials said. The tunnels were closed with sand, rocks and cement.

Several arrests were made in Rafah, and security forces also detained several people involved in trading weapons, the officials said.

The security officials would not say how many people were taken into custody. In one incident, police were stoned by the relatives of a detainee, witnesses said.

Earlier Saturday, Israeli troops fired rubber bullets at Palestinian stone throwers, injuring 16, in the West Bank town of Nablus on Saturday.

Also Saturday, the death toll from Tuesday's Hamas suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus rose to 21 as a 70-year-old Israeli woman died of her injuries. The attack prompted Israel to kill a Hamas leader, and Islamic militants in turn threatened a wave of new attacks.

Palestinian leaders appealed for international intervention, urging the United States and other countries to help broker a truce following a week of violence.

"We've reached a point where the situation is in urgent need of foreign intervention so that we can return to the political track," Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr said after a Cabinet meeting in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

However, several previous cease-fire negotiations, including those led by former President Clinton and by CIA chief George Tenet, have failed.

A temporary cease-fire declared by militant groups two months ago dissolved following Israel's killing of the Hamas leader, Ismail Abu Shanab.

Israel said it was not interested in signing new agreements while the Palestinians have yet to live up to commitments under the road map, which calls for the Palestinians to dismantle militant groups.

The peace plan calls for an immediate end to violence, an eventual construction freeze in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the immediate dismantling of settlement outposts.

Palestinian legislator Saeb Erekat met Saturday with U.S. envoy John Wolf and urged the United States to pressure Israel to halt killings of militants.

On Friday, the United States froze the assets of six Hamas leaders and five European-based organizations that it said raise money for the group. Five Americans were among those killed in the Hamas bombing.

A prominent Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, lashed out at President Bush, calling him "Islam's biggest enemy" in comments carried by Dubai-based satellite channel Al-Arabiya.

Rantisi called the U.S. decision to freeze assets "a theft of Muslim money by the Americans."

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