- Title: WEST BANK: Israeli troops raid Nablus, close down shopping mall
- Date: 9th July 2008
- Summary: ++DAY PICTURES++ ISRAELI MILITARY ORDER TO CLOSE DOWN SHOPPING CENTRE POSTED ON GLASS DOOR AT ENTRANCE TO MALL VARIOUS OF PALESTINIANS OUTSIDE SHOPS DAMAGED IN RAID (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HAMED BITAWI, MUSLIM LEADER, SAYING: "This order to close down this shopping centre is a terrorist, barbarian act which is against the international and religious laws. This is part of an
- Embargoed: 24th July 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Defence / Military
- Reuters ID: LVA9FUW3R9HB1WWRAY8XHFGRTK1O
- Story Text: Israeli forces raid a popular shopping mall in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, ordering its closure for two years over its owner's alleged links to Hamas.
Israeli troops raided the West Bank city of Nablus before dawn on Tuesday (July 8) and shut down a popular shopping mall.
The Israeli troops, backed by bulldozers and military vehicles, raided central Nablus and entered a five-storey commercial complex and broke into the offices of the complex's owner, the Beit Almal finance company. They also confiscated computers.
The army said Beit Almal "worked on (Hamas's) behalf and sought to support it". Osnan Musleh, a Beit Almal board member, denied the allegations.
On their departure, soldiers left on the doors of the mall an Arabic-language order signed by an Israeli general, announcing the closure of the shopping centre for two years.
"Those in charge of the property must ... close it and keep it shut for two years, upon receipt of this order," the document read, threatening violators with a five-year jail term and giving shop owners until Aug. 15 to move their businesses.
Palestinian shoppers defied the order by flocking to the shopping mall in the centre of the city of Nablus.
"This order to close down this shopping centre is a terrorist, barbarian act which is against the international and religious laws. This is part of an Israeli policy to enforce a siege and sanctions on the Palestinian people," said a local Muslim leader Hamed Bitawi.
"To say that these centres affiliated with Hamas wrong. Our shops, which have been shut and those which have been ordered to close are owned by people, normal people, who work in order to earn money to support their children. This is a decision is a violation and we cannot stay silent on it," said Palestinian businessman Ghassan Annabtawi, who protested outside the mall.
The Israeli army surrounds Nablus, which is governed by President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority, but mounts frequent raids into the city in what the military describes as attempts to prevent attacks by militants.
Israel has stepped up a campaign against organisations in the occupied West Bank which it says are linked to Hamas, the Islamist group that seized the Gaza Strip from Abbas' Fatah faction a year ago and opposes his talks with the Jewish state.
A statement issued by the Israeli government on Monday (July 7) said Defence Minister Ehud Barak recently signed an order declaring 36 international charitable funds, suspected by Israel of raising money for Hamas, to be "banned associations".
The order to close the shopping mall said anyone wishing to appeal against the edict could submit a petition to the Israeli military's legal department.
It listed telephone and fax numbers. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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