GAZA CITY, 30 September 2005 — Israeli forces killed three Palestinian activists during a raid on the West Bank town of Jenin yesterday even as Palestinian authorities started taking arms off the street.
The troops shot dead a wanted member of the mainstream Fatah movement during the raid in Jenin. An army spokesman said the man opened fire on the troops first. The army also said soldiers killed two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who fired at soldiers trying to arrest them in the nearby village of Burqin.
Witnesses said the two, identified earlier as Islamic Jihad gunmen, were shot while hiding in an olive grove. Thousands joined a funeral march in Jenin for the three. Gunmen in the crowd vowed to avenge the deaths.
The Israeli military action came in spite of US appeals for restraint.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas slammed Israel for escalating tensions and jeopardizing the peace process. “This escalation puts the peace process into a dangerous impasse,” the Palestinian leader told reporters here hours after the army action.
“We condemn these acts and call on Israel to stop, especially as all the Palestinian movements have committed themselves to respect the truce and to end the carrying of weapons,” he said.
In response to the killings, a top Al-Aqsa leader said the group would no longer be party to the truce agreement.
Palestinian law enforcement authorities said they had begun enforcing a ban on public displays of weapons, a key step toward imposing order in the chaotic Gaza Strip, and Hamas, the largest armed group, said it would honor the ban. Police chief Ala Husni said that following Israel’s recent withdrawal from Gaza, there was no longer any need for people to carry weapons unless they were members of security forces.
“The role of resistance weapons has ended in the streets. They should go back into storage and they should not show up in the streets,” he told a news conference. “Any weapon now in the street is a criminal weapon.”
During nearly five years of fighting, Israeli attacks severely weakened the Palestinian security forces, enabling armed groups and gangs to operate freely in Gaza.
Abbas announced the ban on weapons displays last week, saying it was a first step toward imposing law and order. Abbas, who is under heavy Israeli pressure to disarm militant groups, says all weapons should be under the central control of the Palestinian Authority.
Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa said authorities yesterday confiscated AK-47 assault rifles from three individuals and detained the gun owners. A number of security officers also were arrested for carrying guns while off duty, he said.
Husni said: “All Palestinian groups have accepted the decision, and anyone who violates the ban is an enemy of the people. We don’t want to give the excuse for the occupation to return. We don’t want to keep these (Israeli) planes in our skies all the time. We don’t want terror for our children.”
He said there would be no raids on stored weapons, but appealed to groups in possession of explosives to contact police and dismantle them.
— Additional input from agencies
