- Title: WEST BANK/JERUSALEM: ISRAELI FORCES PUSH INTO BETHLEHEM IN A SWEEP FOR MILITANTS
- Date: 30th January 2004
- Summary: (U2) BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (JANUARY 30, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. TV/GV/LV ISRAELI ARMY INCURSION INTO THE AIDA REFUGEE CAMP (4 SHOTS) 0.56 2. LV OF HOME OF ALI JAARA, BOMBER WHO KILLED TEN PEOPLE ABOARD A JERUSALEM BUS ON 29/1 1.17 3. LV OF LIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS HOME 1.32 4. VARIOUS OF NEW STILL PHOTOS OF ALI JAARA FROM QASSAM, HAMAS MILI
- Embargoed: 14th February 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BETHLHEM, WEST BANK/ JERUSALEM
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVA10VAE8Z3JLG70TCYVB845LX0M
- Story Text: Israeli forces pushed into Bethlehem for the first
time in six months in a sweep for militants, a day after
bus bombing kills 10 Israelis.
Israeli forces pushed into Bethlehem on Friday
(January 30) for the first time in six months in a sweep
for militants, a day after a Palestinian policeman from the
city killed 10 Israelis in a suicide bombing on a Jerusalem
bus.
Israeli security sources said the operation would
likely be over in hours and that Israeli leaders had
decided on a measured response to Thursday's bus attack.
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli armoured vehicles
rumbled into Bethlehem and adjoining refugee camps before
daybreak and troops fanned out to search houses.
Witnesses said soldiers detained 12 Palestinians. About
15 Israeli armoured vehicles took part in the incursion.
Troops pulled up to the family home of Ali Jaara, the
bomber of Thursday's bus bombing, and told his parents and
siblings to leave before engineers arrived to blow the
house up. The family, helped by neighbours, packed up
belongings and even removed glass from window frames.
Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, linked to Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed on
Thursday responsibility for the bombing and issued a letter
left by the bomber that said he was avenging an Israeli
raid that killed eight Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday.
However, on Friday, a competing claim by Qassam
Hamas military wing, emerged, saying the bomb had been
provided and planted by the Palestinian militant group.
The Islamic faction made the claim in a statement faxed
to Reuters' Gaza office a day after al Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades said it was behind the bus bombing.
Adding to the confusion, al Aqsa -- a highly
factionalised organisation -- issued a statement in the
West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday denying its earlier
written claims that it was behind the bombing. The bomber
himself, a Palestinian policeman stationed in Bethelehem,
left behind separate letters in which he said in one that
he had acted on behalf of al Aqsa and in the other that he
acted for Hamas.
Palestinian militant groups have occasionally made
conflicting claims in the aftermath of attacks, though they
have also carried out a number of joint operations.
It was the deadliest suicide bombing since an October 4
attack on a Haifa restaurant, where a woman bomber from the
Islamic Jihad faction killed 23 other people.
The bombing, which also wounded dozens, overshadowed
the latest push by a United States envoy to revive the road
map.
Israel handed Bethlehem to Palestinian police in July
to bolster a now violence-stalled peace "road map". Israeli
officials said at the time the army would be back if
Palestinian forces did not rein in militants in the city of
Jesus' birth.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack and also
called for a halt to Israeli violence. Israel accuses the
Palestinians of failing to crack down on militants.
Sharon expressed his condolences for families bereaved
by the bus attack at a ceremony on Thursday for three dead
soldiers brought home in a deal with Lebanese guerrilla foe
Hizbollah.
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