OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 3 August — Backed by over 100 tanks, Israeli troops stormed the West Bank city of Nablus yesterday, killing five Palestinians and destroying homes. The Israeli Security Cabinet also approved a move to banish two brothers of Palestinians who had killed Israelis from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip.
Israeli soldiers went from house to house in the Casbah, or Old City, of Nablus smashing holes in connecting walls and detaining people. At least 30 people were arrested. They reimposed a curfew which local residents had been largely ignoring in recent days.
“We are going to go through the old city with a fine-tooth comb and are ready to stay days or weeks if necessary,” an unidentified infantry colonel told Israel radio.
In three West Bank towns, the army demolished four homes, at least three of them belonging to relatives of those who staged attacks. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat condemned the demolitions, which left dozens homeless, as a crime against humanity.
“I am asking for quick international intervention from the United Nations. If they are not able to send forces, they should send observers,” Arafat told a news conference in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Five Palestinians were killed — two in the Gaza Strip and three in the Nablus region — in a series of operations.
The two men due to be banished for two years were named as Gaza Kifah Adjuri, 28, from Askar refugee camp, and Abdel Nasser Assidi, 34, from the village of Tel, both in the West Bank. They were among 21 Palestinians arrested in mid-July because they were related to those who killed 14 Israelis in two attacks last month.
Adjuri and Assidi appealed yesterday to a military tribunal and were to take their plea to the Supreme Court if rejected.
A senior Hamas official in Gaza said the group was “sorry about the death of Americans or foreigners” in Wednesday’s Jerusalem bombing at Hebrew University. “We are sorry about the deaths of foreigners or Americans...Hamas’ Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades only target Israelis and nobody else,” Abdelaziz Al-Rantissi said.
But he said that while Hamas regretted the deaths it would not apologize to Washington. “Hamas will not send any message of apology to the United States because they don’t send us their apologies when Israel kills our sons with a US green light and US arms,” he added.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said a meeting between a senior Palestinian delegation and US Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington, originally set for Monday, has been delayed until Thursday. “The meeting was rescheduled at the request of the Palestinians,” Erekat said, citing “technical reasons” which he did not elaborate.
Erekat had earlier said he would be joined by two new ministers — Interior Minister Abdel Razeq Al-Yahiya and Economy Minister Maher Al-Masri — at the talks, and that their team also expected to meet with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and other officials.
Meanwhile, the United Nations said the UN General Assembly will convene a special session Monday to discuss a long-awaited report detailing the events at the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Already 17 representatives have signed up to speak at the special session, which is to conclude with a vote on a resolution, Assembly spokesman Jan Fisher said.
It was on May 7 that the General Assembly asked Secretary-General Kofi Annan to prepare a report delving into Palestinian allegations of a massacre of more than 400 people from April 2 to April 12 at the camp. The 31-page report, finally released Thursday, said that based on the evidence compiled from public statements and testimony of Palestinians, UN member states and non-governmental organizations, there was nothing to suggest that so many people had been killed. Arab states yesterday circulated the draft resolution harshly critical of Israel ahead of the debate. Diplomats said negotiations on the text were at an early stage and predicted that the language could be softened considerably before the resolution came to a vote.
