Israel storms West Bank prison

By Wafa Amr

JERICHO, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli forces stormed a
West Bank prison with tanks and bulldozers on Tuesday to try to
seize the leader of a Palestinian faction accused of killing an
Israeli minister in 2001.

The attempt to grab Ahmed Saadat and five other prominent
prisoners ignited protests across Palestinian areas.

At least six foreigners were seized by militants furious
that U.S. and British monitors left Jericho jail before the
raid. Two of them, both Australians, were later released.

A guard and a prisoner were killed in clashes at the prison
where Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
leader Saadat has been held since 2002. At least 10 people were
wounded.

Israel’s biggest raid for months, following Palestinian
suggestions that Saadat might be freed, could strengthen the
security credentials of interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert two
weeks ahead of a general election that he is expected to win.

Islamic militant group Hamas, due to form the next
Palestinian government, urged Palestinians to rally at the jail
and warned Israel against harming Saadat.

Israeli soldiers blew up the outer wall of the prison
compound, then brought up bulldozers. Holding hands in the air,
at least 180 Palestinian prisoners and guards gave themselves
up. Some prisoners were dressed only in their underwear.

The wanted militants and another 120 people remained holed
up in the main building. Guards traded fire sporadically with
the Israeli troops.

“Maybe they will take us alive or dead. We will not
surrender,” Ahmed Saadat told Al Jazeera television by
telephone from the prison. “Our morale is high and we will die
as men.”

Israel said it launched the raid because it feared the six
could be released, as mooted by Hamas after it won a January
election and by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last week.

Israel says Saadat ordered the killing of Tourism Minister
Rehavam Zeevi in 2001. The PFLP, one of the smaller groups
waging a Palestinian uprising, said it assassinated Zeevi to
avenge the killing of one of its leaders.

CONDEMNATION

Abbas’s Palestinian Authority condemned the raid and the
withdrawal of the U.S. and British monitors. U.S. and British
officials said the monitors left because the Palestinians had
failed to implement requested security improvements.

Israel had agreed to allow the Authority to keep Saadat in
Jericho prison under international supervision in a deal to end
an Israeli siege of Yasser Arafat’s compound in the West Bank
city of Ramallah in May 2002.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told parliament the
Authority had “consistently failed” to meet its obligations
under that agreement, and the monitors’ safety was at risk.

The Foreign Office advised British citizens against
traveling to the Palestinian territories, citing security
threats and kidnapping of foreigners in Gaza.

Abbas said last week he was prepared to free Saadat,
drawing an angry response from Israel, which says it has the
right to bring Saadat to justice if the Palestinian Authority
frees him.

Hamas warned Israel against harming the prisoners and
accused Olmert’s government of a pre-election stunt.

“We hold Israel responsible for any consequences arising
from this crime and warn them against harming Ahmed Saadat,”
exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said in Saudi Arabia.

In the Gaza Strip, PFLP militants and protesters set ablaze
the British Council and stormed buildings used by the EU and a
U.S. group. The British Council building in the West Bank city
of Ramallah also came under attack.

Two French, two Australians, a Swiss Red Cross worker and a
Korean were seized by militants who raided offices and hotels
in the search for foreigners. The Australians were freed soon
after their abduction. One PFLP gunman was killed in a clash
with police trying to prevent kidnappings.

“Any European is subject to kidnapping and killing,”
chanted PFLP militants, firing in the air.

The PFLP has Marxist roots and opposes peace talks with
Israel. The group, which was at the forefront of plane
hijackings in the 1960s and 1970s, is part of Abbas’s umbrella
Palestine Liberation Organization.

Hamas also opposes peace talks with Israel, which it seeks
to destroy. The Islamist faction is expected to present its
government this month after its election triumph in January.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)