WEST BANK: ISRAELI SECURITY FORCES FIRE MISSILES INTO GAZA CITY FOLLOWING BROKEN CEASEFIRE AFTER SUICIDE BOMBING
Record ID:
400506
WEST BANK: ISRAELI SECURITY FORCES FIRE MISSILES INTO GAZA CITY FOLLOWING BROKEN CEASEFIRE AFTER SUICIDE BOMBING
- Title: WEST BANK: ISRAELI SECURITY FORCES FIRE MISSILES INTO GAZA CITY FOLLOWING BROKEN CEASEFIRE AFTER SUICIDE BOMBING
- Date: 21st August 2003
- Summary: (U2) HEBRON, WEST BANK (AUGUST 21, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. HAV ISRAELI SOLDIERS WAITING OUTSIDE BUILDING DURING ARMY RAID AT DAWN 0.07 2. VARIOUS, BUILDING BEING BLOW UP/ CLOUDS OF SMOKE 0.23 3. SLVISRAELI JEEP DRIVING THROUGH CITY STREET 0.30 4. PALESTINIANS ARRIVING AT SITE 0.36 5. CLOSE OF BUILDING WHICH WAS BLOWN UP 0.40
- Embargoed: 5th September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: HEBRON, RAMALLAH AND NABLUS, WEST BANK
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVAHLM0L1ZI7NLHNOZ6Q46REFCE
- Story Text: The Israeli army has swept into two West Bank cities
and fired missiles into Gaza City after deciding on a
return to strikes against Islamic militants following a
suicide bombing that splintered a seven-week-old ceasefire.
Israeli forces on Thursday (August 21) demolished
the home of the Palestinian suicide bomber responsible for
the Jerusalem bus bombing that killed 20 Israelis
including five children, on Tuesday (August 19).
Israel raided the West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday
after agreeing to launch military strikes against Islamic
militants if the Palestinian government does not crack down
on them.
Israeli forces entered Jenin and left before dawn. Two
homes of militants were demolished in what has become a
standard method of reprisal.
Palestinian witnesses said the army was also conducting
searches in the old city and western part of Nablus. Both
areas are militant bastions, and military sources said two
men were arrested in the raids.
Israeli security sources said Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon and security chiefs had agreed on wide-ranging steps
to be taken against militants. Israel also froze
negotiations with the Palestinians after Tuesday's suicide
attack, one of the deadliest in three years of violence
since the Palestinians rose up seeking independence.
A senior Israeli source said the raids could begin in a
matter of hours and last several days but that Israel
appeared to have given them "a few more hours" to rein in
the militants.
In an effort to stave off a tougher Israeli response to
the suicide attack, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud
Abbas cut off contacts with Islamic militant groups on
Wednesday (August 20) and ordered security forces to arrest
those behind the bombing.
Abbas and his cabinet later met President Yasser Arafat
and his Fatah group in the West Bank city of Ramallah. They
vowed to enforce the rule of law and reiterated their
commitment to the three-month truce announced by militants
on June 29.
The U.S. State Department sent a top envoy to meet both
sides after Tuesday's bus bombing. Road map envoy, John
Wolf met Abbas in Ramallah after the earlier cabinet
meeting.
The White House has put the onus on the Palestinian
Authority to rein in the militants and said Israel had the
right to defend itself. Abbas says a crackdown would risk
civil war.
Peace efforts appear to be in deep trouble. The ceasefire
is badly frayed after the suicide bombing and two
other suicide attacks last week which followed fata
Israeli military raids.
The Jerusalem suicide bombing left a three-month truce
hanging in the balance and threatens the success a
U.S.-backed peace "road map" which outlines reciprocal
steps to end nearly three years of violence and establish a
Palestinian state by 2005.
Israel has shelved its planned handover of occupied
West Bank cities, frozen high-level talks and reimposed a
clampdown on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
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