HEBRON, West Bank, 17 November 2002 — Israeli armored vehicles poured into Hebron yesterday and troops commandeered buildings, retaking control of the entire West Bank city after Palestinian gunmen killed 12 Israelis in an ambush. Soldiers burst into homes and other buildings in strategic locations after nightfall, watched by troops manning machine guns on the armored vehicles. The army had also rounded up about 41 Palestinians and led them blindfolded onto buses at dawn.
Friday’s attack on Jewish settlers in the divided city south of Jerusalem and the expected Israeli retaliation threatened to set off a new round of violence despite US calls for restraint as it prepares for possible military action in Iraq.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz met the army’s chief of staff and other security officials to discuss Israel’s reaction, which security sources said would not end with the armed incursion. Ultranationalists in the hawkish Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s caretaker Cabinet view settlers as their core constituency in an election due on Jan. 28 and are pushing for a tough response.
But the United Nations and France urged Israel not to launch a “massive operation” against the Palestinians. Friday’s ambush of settlers returning to the adjacent settlement of Kiryat Arba was the deadliest attack in the city since the Palestinian uprising for an independent state began more than two years ago.
Teams of heavily armed soldiers had began house-to-house searches earlier in the day. The military also bulldozed three buildings which were allegedly used for cover by the Palestinians during the attack. The website of Israeli daily Haaretz said easing measures put in place in Hebron for the holy month of Ramadan had been canceled.
The Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the Friday’s settler attack, saying it was payback for Israel’s killing of one of its military leaders a week ago. Three Palestinian gunmen were killed in the gunbattle with Israeli security forces.
“A response is needed that will shock the enemy,” the YESHIVA settlers’ council said in a statement. It urged the government to restore permanent Israeli security control over Hebron and start an “all-encompassing operation” to disarm Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority and militant groups.
Israeli Public Security Minister Uzi Landau, a hawkish member of Sharon’s Likud party, said the government should eliminate the Palestinian Authority and Islamic groups. “We have to destroy the terrorist infrastructure and that means destroying the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas group,” Landau said.
One Israeli option under consideration, although seen as unlikely, is expelling Arafat, a move promoted by Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Dov Weissglass, the top official in the prime minister’s office, said Sharon did not feel the timing was right for such a move.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat urged the international community to complete a peace plan and added: “More Israeli incursions, more Israeli attacks, more Israeli bombardments will only be adding fuel to the fire.” (The Independent)
