OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 19 September 2003 — Israeli tanks made an incursion into Jenin in the West Bank yesterday as its troops killed a Hamas activist in the Gaza Strip.
Around 30 tanks and jeeps rolled into Jenin and its refugee camp at dawn where dozens of soldiers took over several buildings as makeshift observation bases.
Five people were arrested, among them a local chief of the Islamic Jihad’s military branch, Palestinian security sources said. A Jihad source named the man as Nahar Al-Saadi, 25, and said his car had been subsequently blown up by the army.
Israeli troops briefly clashed with Palestinian gunmen as they entered Jenin and were then met by crowds of young men. Two of the youths were wounded in Israeli fire.
The town and its refugee camp were placed under curfew and troops blew up the doors of several shops and administrative buildings and searched the premises.
Earlier, troops killed a member of Hamas’ military wing in Gaza’s Nusseirat refugee camp. Ezzedin Al-Qassam Brigades member Jihad Abu Suheireh, 34, died when the army demolished the house where he had taken shelter. Seven other Palestinians, including the victim’s brother and father, were wounded in the raid.
Backed up by an assault helicopter, the soldiers entered the camp in jeeps and tanks from the neighboring Netzarim Jewish settlement near Gaza City and surrounded the house.
The helicopter fired rockets, destroying the building. Seven other buildings were also badly damaged.
Exchanges of automatic gunfire were heard during the operation, and an Israeli military spokesman said three soldiers had been wounded.
The victim’s cousin, Ramez Suheireh, who is a member of the Palestinian national security service, was later arrested by Israeli forces in the camp.
Top cadres from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement meanwhile met at his headquarters in Ramallah to agree on the make-up of premier-designate Ahmed Qorei’s government.
“This is the largest meeting organized after a string of meetings,” since Arafat nominated Parliament Speaker Qorei, also known as Abu Alaa, as his new prime minister on Sept. 7, Fatah deputy Mohammed Hurani said. “It is expected that today’s meeting will take us closer to agreeing on a government,” he added.
He said that the evening session, which started at 4:00 p.m. and features more than 100 members of Fatah’s central committee, its revolutionary council as well as the party’s deputies, would be the last such gathering and that “Abu Ala will announce a government by Saturday or Monday at the latest.”
“The purpose of this large meeting is to have Fatah agree on the government make-up and declare its support for Abu Alaa,” he added.
US President George W. Bush, however, was downbeat on peace prospects as long as Arafat stayed at the helm. In Camp David, Maryland, Bush urged Palestinians to cast off Arafat, blaming him for “stalled” Middle East peace efforts and charging he had thwarted efforts to end violence.
“Mr. Arafat has failed as a leader,” the US president said during a joint press conference with Jordanian King Abdallah.
“The people of the Palestinian territory must understand that, if they want peace, they must have leadership that is absolutely 100 percent committed to fighting off terror,” he said.
