NABLUS, 27 June 2004 — The West Bank chief of the radical Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades faction was one of seven Palestinians killed yesterday by Israeli fire in the West Bank city of Nablus, said Palestinian security sources.
Nayef Abu Sharekh, tracked by Israeli troops, was killed in a hide-out along with five other armed militants sheltering in the same place on the third day of an Israeli search operation in Nablus, the sources said.
Israeli soldiers fired grenades into the hide-out after discovering it in a house.
Another armed member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a cell linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s mainstream Fatah movement, was killed earlier yesterday, Palestinian security sources said.
On Friday two Palestinian youths, both in their late teens, were shot dead in separate incidents. Sporadic overnight violence left several wounded yesterday as UN human rights experts called for an international protection force to be set up in the Palestinian territories.
Residents in of Nablus said soldiers shot dead Ihab Slim, 19, at his house late Friday, also wounding his brother and father.
Several hours earlier, Mohammed Sokha, 18, was shot dead by soldiers when a group of youths began pelting troops with stones, a Palestinian security source said.
Referring to the incident in which Slim was killed, an Israeli military source said troops had opened fire on “two suspicious figures seen crawling on the roof of a building”.
In the earlier incident, the source said troops had shot at a youth who “was poised to throw a gas tank at troops, which was about a meter and a half (five foot) long.”
Troops also fired tear gas canisters at around 100 people participating in the funeral of the two teenagers yesterday, causing at least 10 to be treated for tear gas inhalation, medical and security sources said.
In response, a group of youngsters began throwing stones at the soldiers, who arrested three of them.
Medical sources said they also treated at least 20 Palestinians for tear gas inhalation in the northern West Bank yesterday when troops tried to break up a large demonstration against Israel’s ongoing construction of its controversial separation barrier.
Palestinian security sources said troops had fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets to break up the demonstration of around 2,000 people in Qaffim town, some 10 km north of Tulkarem.
The violence took place as the army continued a vast search operation in the Old City of Nablus, also known as the Casbah, which started Thursday. As the raid entered its third day, Palestinian sources said so far the operation had resulted in two people being killed, 20 injured, and another 30 arrested.
The army said that during the course of the operation it had discovered an explosive belt and a roadside bomb that were both neutralized, and warned the incursion could last several days.
In the Gaza Strip, three young Palestinians, including a 12-year-old, were wounded by Israeli gunfire in the Brazil refugee camp in the southern town of Rafah late Friday, medical sources said.
Meanwhile, US Middle East envoy William Burns said yesterday the United States is willing to do everything to ensure the success of Israel’s proposed withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.
“We genuinely believe that this is a moment of opportunity and none of us can afford to miss this,” Burns said following a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei, which he described as “an excellent discussion”.
During the talks, Burns reiterated US support for Egypt’s offer of help in the wake of the Israeli pullout from Gaza. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Qorei warned that unless the withdrawal was undertaken as part of the peace road map drafted by the quartet it would have little significance.
