Israelis kill Palestinian militant in Nablus raid

By Nadia Sa’ad

NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli troops killed a
Palestinian militant in a West Bank raid on Thursday, stepping
up operations after a suicide bombing that shook Israel as it
prepares to pull out from some occupied territory next month.
Troops killed Mohammed al-Asi, a local commander of the al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades in Nablus, during an exchange of fire with
Palestinian gunmen after surrounding a building and calling on
militants inside to surrender, the army said.

“After several hours they identified one of the wanted men
trying to escape. They called on him several times to stop and
eventually opened fire,” an army spokeswoman said.

Shortly afterwards, Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza fired
two rockets into nearby Israel. No injuries were reported from
what the militants said was a response to the Nablus incursion.

The violence dealt further blows to a faltering de facto
ceasefire declared by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at a Feb. 8 summit.

The army resumed a security crackdown in the West Bank
after an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber killed two teenage girls,
two women and a soldier in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya
on Tuesday.

It was the first such attack since February and another
sign that Islamic Jihad, sworn to Israel’s destruction, had
opted out of a “calm” declared by militant groups at Abbas’s
behest.

A serious resurgence of violence could disrupt Israel’s
planned pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank, its first
evacuation of settlers from territory captured in the 1967
Middle East war and which Palestinians want for a state.

With around a month to go until evacuations begin, Israel
sealed off all settlements in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to
pre-empt attempts by ultra-rightist Jews to block the pullout.

Enraging settlers, Sharon signed an order closing Gaza’s 21
settlements to non-residents after ultranationalists announced
plans for a march next week that could have brought an influx
of thousands of protesters into the Jewish enclaves.

SCUFFLING AT BORDER CROSSING

As the indefinite entry ban took effect, cars and trucks
quickly backed up at the main crossing point between Israel and
Gush Katif, Gaza’s largest settlement bloc. Israeli drivers,
demanding to be let through, waved identity cards at police.

Overnight about 60 furious settlers used their cars to
block the border point, tying down Israeli security forces.
Scuffles erupted and it took police several hours to reopen the
crossing.

Rightist opponents of Sharon’s plan, which he has described
as “disengagement” from conflict with the Palestinians, vowed
to step up demonstrations in Israel against the pullout plan.

Polls show most Israelis favor the move. But rightists,
many of whom claim a biblical birthright to Gaza and the
occupied West Bank, say pulling out would reward Palestinian
militants who have spearheaded attacks during an uprising.

Palestinians fear the plan will give them tiny,
impoverished Gaza, while Israel strengthens its hold on much
bigger West Bank settlements that house most of the 240,000
settlers. More than 3.6 million Palestinians live in the West
Bank and Gaza.

Settler spokesman Eran Sternberg accused Sharon of “laying
siege” to fellow Jews and said the Israeli leader had “hit rock
bottom from a moral standpoint.”

It said the “Restricted Entry Order,” which requires
permits for settlers’ relatives and guests, was issued to
prevent “the uncontrolled entry of extremist elements into the
area and in light of efforts to organize a massive march in
Gaza.”

The closure will give about 8,500 settlers a taste of some
of the military restrictions and bureaucracy endured by
Palestinians living under occupation.

Rightist protests have included blockades of Israeli
highways and planting of fake bombs in train and bus stations.