• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Israel kills 2 gunmen, teen in W.Bank offensive

Posted on: Friday, 30 September 2005, 08:50 CDT

By Atef Sa'ad

NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed two Palestinian gunmen and a teenager in the occupied West Bank on Friday, pressing ahead with raids against militants despite a halt to cross-border rocket salvoes from the Gaza Strip.

The week-long wave of violence has cast a shadow over the latest round of Palestinian municipal elections, frayed a seven-month-old ceasefire and deflated hopes that Israel's Gaza pullout might open the way for a revival of peacemaking.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, said two fighters died in an army raid on Balata refugee camp in Nablus. Troops later shot dead a 13-year-old stone-thrower in nearby Askar camp, witnesses said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said Palestinians fired at troops who swooped on the camps before dawn to arrest militants.

"The soldiers shot back, and several (gunmen) were hit. One soldier was slightly wounded. In all, 11 terrorists were detained," the spokeswoman said. She had no word on the dead youth but said troops and gunmen also exchanged fire in Askar.

On Thursday, Israeli troops shot dead three gunmen in West Bank raids. Hundreds of suspected militants have been detained by Israeli forces in sweeps in the territory over the past week.

The rocket fire that led to the Israeli offensive, which has included artillery and missile attacks in the Gaza Strip, abated on Tuesday in response to pleas from the Palestinian public for calm to enable reconstruction after 38 years of occupation.

But Israel has kept up the heat. "We strongly condemn this continued Israeli escalation that will undermine the cessation of violence," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Around 4,000 children gathered on Friday near the former Jewish settlement of Netzarim in Gaza to commemorate the killing of two Palestinian boys in the area near the start of a 2000 uprising. Militant group Islamic Jihad organized the rally.

PALESTINIAN ELECTIONS

The latest bloodshed came hours after Palestinians finished voting in a third round of local elections in the West Bank widely seen as a test of political clout for the militant Hamas group ahead of a parliamentary ballot in January.

Fatah won control of 65 of the 104 municipal councils up for grabs compared with 22 for Hamas and 17 percent for other factions, said Firas Yaghi, executive director of the Higher Commission for Local Elections. Turnout was 85 percent.

Hamas said the preliminary figures did not reflect its grassroots popularity, noting that its candidates did not run in some districts for fear of arrest by Israel.

The vote -- final official figures for which are due on Saturday -- could signal a strong showing for Hamas in the coming legislative vote. Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, boycotted the only previous parliamentary ballot in 1996.

Thursday's ballot, part of elections for more than 1,000 West Bank council seats, was the first Palestinian vote since Israel completed its Gaza pullout on September 12.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed Israel will keep West Bank settlement blocs much larger than its former Gaza enclaves.

Hamas, the driving force behind suicide bombings against Israelis during five years of a Palestinian uprising before it agreed to a truce in February at Abbas's behest, did well in the two earlier phases of municipal voting.

Its popularity is underpinned not only by its fight against Israel but its charity network and corruption-free image.

The prospect of a key role for Hamas in Palestinian politics has caused concern in Israel and abroad due to the group's refusal to disarm under a U.S.-backed peace "road map." The plan envisages a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel.

Sharon had said Israel would not facilitate voting in the parliamentary ballot in the West Bank, where the army has a network of roadblocks, if Hamas ran without first disarming. Palestinians demand that Israel not interfere in their politics.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Writing by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem)

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category