Palestinian shot near Bethlehem church

Posted 9:16AM on Sunday 14th April 2002 ( 23 years ago )

BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK - Tension rose around the Church of the Nativity in biblical Bethlehem Sunday after Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian, while more than 200 armed Palestinians remained inside the shrine. Meanwhile, the focus in truce efforts was on Ramallah, where Secretary of State Colin Powell entered Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's besieged West Bank headquarters, arriving in three cars surrounded by about Israeli police and soldiers and American security. The meeting had been delayed a day by a Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem Friday that killed six people and the bomber. Powell agreed to the meeting after Arafat signed a statement condemning the bombing attack. The statement, read by announcers on Palestinian radio and television, said, ``We strongly condemn all attacks targeting civilians from both sides, and especially the attack that took place against Israeli citizens yesterday in Jerusalem." However, Israel dismissed the statement. ``We cannot be impressed by any condemnation,'' said Danny Ayalon, a foreign policy adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. ``We want deeds, not words.'' Another official noted that the bomber, a woman, came from a militia linked to Arafat. The Islamic militant group Hamas rejected the statement, and Hamas spokesman Ismail Abu Shanab said attacks would go on. ``We have the full right to react without any limitation against the state terrorism of Israel,'' he said. The Palestinian statement also said, ``We also condemn very strongly the massacre that was committed by the Israeli occupation troops against our refugees in Jenin and against our people in Ramallah, Nablus and Tulkarem and also the brutal aggression against the church in Bethlehem during the last two weeks.'' The death toll in Israel's weeklong assault on the refugee camp in Jenin was a subject of hot contention between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel labeled the Palestinian charge of a massacre ``propaganda,'' but Israel's own Supreme Court halted the army's intention to bury the bodies of those killed there, a plan Palestinians said was part of a coverup. The high court was to hear petitions against the army later Sunday. In Nablus, a man said eight of his relatives were crushed when Israeli bulldozers recently demolished a home. Mahmoud Shobi, 35, said the home of his brother and father toppled over several days ago in the crowded Old City when Israeli bulldozers demolished an empty building next door. In a dramatic scene, two members of the family were pulled from the rubble alive. Abdullah Shobi, 65, and his wife, Shams, 53, were kissed by rescuers and cheered on by onlookers as they emerged from the concrete blocks and dust. The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of the collapse of the Shobi family compound. In Bethlehem, Israeli soldiers fired at an armed Palestinian who was preparing to open fire at the soldiers, the military said. The Palestinian was wounded and was taken into the church by other gunmen, where he died. The incident took place at the Casa Nova Franciscan hostel, part of the church complex. The gunmen have been holed up in the church since April 2, when they fled invading Israeli forces. Israel insists that they must surrender, clamping a tight siege on the church. Early Sunday, the Israelis installed a large loudspeaker in front of the complex and were playing screeching noises at high volume, witnesses said, an apparent effort to unnerve the Palestinians. The Israeli military refused to comment. The standoff has strained relations between Israel and the Vatican, where church leaders have demanded that the Israelis leave the site, one of Christianity's holiest. Israel launched its invasion of the West Bank on March 29 in response to a series of Palestinian suicide attacks. The Israelis took control of the main West Bank towns and are now going into villages in pursuit of militants. The army announced Saturday it had entered six additional West Bank villages, arresting 40 suspected militants. In the village of Tubas, the army said it arrested a leader with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Nasser Awais, who would be one of the highest-ranking militants captured during the Israeli offensive in the West Bank. The militia had said that Awais died a week ago when the Israelis were taking over Nablus. But after his reported arrest, the group said the report of his death was falsified in an attempt to hide him. The Israeli military said Awais, 32, was responsible for the deaths of 11 Israelis, including a bomb attack that killed six people in the northern Israel city of Hadera. The Israeli operation is facing strong international opposition, but Sharon says the troops will remain until Palestinian militants are routed. President Bush has demanded Israel withdraw from the West Bank ``without delay.'' Powell issued a statement Saturday calling on Israeli forces to ``exercise the utmost restraint and discipline and refrain from the excessive use of force." In an interview with the American Fox News television, Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said that the Palestinians would only discuss a cease-fire once the Israelis leave the West Bank. ``They should withdraw,'' he said. ``We are not going to negotiate with them under the gun.'' At the Jenin Hospital, Dr. Mahmoud Abu Salayeh, said conditions in the nearby camp were so bad that people were drinking untreated water found in gullies in the streets. Tanks and armored personnel carriers rumbled through the torn up streets Saturday, but few Palestinians were visible. Some have managed to flee to nearby Jenin city, while hundreds of men in the camp have been arrested by the Israelis. The camp was the scene of the heaviest fighting in the current Israeli campaign. A total of 23 Israeli soldiers were killed in the camp, and the army said the Palestinian death toll was about 100, most of them militants. Palestinian officials claim the death toll was much higher, but have not been allowed into the camp.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/4/202481