BETHLEHEM, West Bank, 27 December 2002 — Israeli troops shot dead eight Palestinians in raids across the West Bank and swept back into Bethlehem to reimpose a curfew yesterday, ending a brief Christmas respite from occupation. Thirty Palestinians were injured and 20 arrested by the Israeli forces.
The flurry of Israeli Army operations drew vows of revenge from Palestinian groups, aggravating hostilities which the United States wants kept in check to help it cultivate Arab support for possible war against Iraq.
In Bethlehem, troops fired tear gas at Palestinians shopping near the town center, ordering them by loudspeakers to return home, and resumed patrols.
“The curfew was put back in place a short time ago for operational needs,” an Israeli military source said. The army reoccupied Bethlehem a month ago after a Palestinian bomber from the town blew up a bus in nearby Jerusalem, killing 11 Israelis.
Several army patrols rumbled over Bethlehem’s cobblestone streets yesterday. Soldiers arrested at least one man, identified as a Palestinian intelligence officer, and there were sporadic clashes with stone-throwers.
Israeli military sources called the raids “counterterrorism operations”.
“The escalation of violence by (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon is aimed at creating a volatile atmosphere which he believes will serve him in his election campaign,” Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told Reuters.
“Sharon is inviting retaliation because he wants ... to prevent any possibility of an agreement (between Palestinian factions) on a cease fire,” he said. Sharon’s government says any internal Palestinian truce discussions have not been serious.
In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Israeli undercover troops riddled a car with gunfire, killing Bassem Al-Ashqar of the Hamas.
An Israeli military source said troops had tried to detain two wanted men in a car but one of them opened fire. “The force returned fire and killed him,” the source said. The second fugitive was taken into custody, he added.
Palestinian witnesses denied anyone had shot at Israeli soldiers in the incident. Witnesses said troops also shot dead a 19-year-old bystander and an army spokesman said another Palestinian was shot dead later in Ramallah while trying to escape arrest. Earlier yesterday, Israeli soldiers killed a senior Islamic Jihad member in a raid near the northern West Bank town of Jenin.
The army said troops and armor surrounded a house in the village of Qabatiya and killed Hamza Abu Roub, 35, in a gunbattle in which four soldiers were wounded.
“Our military wing and fighters will avenge this crime,” said Sheikh Abdallah Al-Shami of Islamic Jihad in Gaza. The army said troops killed two Palestinians in fighting in the center of the northern West Bank city of Nablus.
In the West Bank city of Tulkarm, an Israeli undercover unit killed Jamal Nader Mohammad Yahya, a member of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction, in front of his house. Palestinian sources said he belonged to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Fatah, but was involved only in political activities.
Israeli military sources said border police tried to arrest him and opened fire after he ignored warning shots.
Later in the day, Palestinian witnesses said a 65-year-old man died in the village of Ramem near Tulkarm after Israeli troops fired concussion grenades near him during a raid.
The army said there had been no firing of weapons in the area and that Palestinians told them the elderly man had died while being taken to hospital after hitting his head in an accident.
