WEST BANK/JERUSALEM: ISRAELI TROOPS MOVE INTO NORTHERN OUTSKIRTS BETHLEHEM AFTER SURGE IN VIOLENCE FOLLOWING ASSASSINATION OF REVAHAM ZEEVI

Record ID: 400781

  • Title: WEST BANK/JERUSALEM: ISRAELI TROOPS MOVE INTO NORTHERN OUTSKIRTS BETHLEHEM AFTER SURGE IN VIOLENCE FOLLOWING ASSASSINATION OF REVAHAM ZEEVI
  • Date: 18th October 2001
  • Summary: (W3) BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (OCTOBER 19, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE VIEW/CLOSER VIEW OF BETHLEHEM WITH AUDIO OF GUNFIRE (2 SHOTS) 0.13 2. LOV: TANKS MOVING 0.20 3. GV: HELICOPTERS FLYING OVERHEAD (2 SHOTS) 0.35 4. GV'S OF TANKS MOVING; GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS (4 SHOTS) 1.14 5. ZOOM OUT: ISRAELI SOLDIER PLACING SAN
  • Embargoed: 2nd November 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BEIT JALA, BETHLEHEM, NEAR JERICHO, WEST BANK / JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA7FSL83MQOIOFY76DWVKQE8N5Y
  • Story Text: Israeli troops have moved into the northern outskirts
    of the Palestinian-ruled city of Bethlehem after a surge in
    violence following the assassination of a far-right Israeli
    cabinet minister.


    Israeli troops moved into the northern outskirts of
    the Palestinian-ruled city of Bethlehem on Friday (October 19)
    after a surge in violence following the assassination of a
    far-right Israeli cabinet minister.

    The bloodshed, in which six Palestinians and one Israeli
    were killed, and threats of tougher Israeli retribution for
    Wednesday's assassination undermined U.S.-led peace efforts
    which Washington hopes will boost Arab support for its
    offensive in Afghanistan.

    Soldiers took over about 10 buildings near the Rachel's
    Tomb shrine on the outskirts of Bethlehem, buffering them with
    sandbags in a sign they were there to stay, witnesses said.

    They advanced hours after a car explosion near the West
    Bank city killed Atef Abayat, a militant on Israel's
    most-wanted list, and two other people. Palestinians blamed
    the blast on Israel's policy of killing militants it says are
    behind attacks.

    Tanks and armoured personnel carriers also took up
    positions in the western part of the nearby Palestinian-ruled
    town of Beit Jala, in a move the army said responded to
    shooting and mortar fire at apartment buildings nearby.

    Israel is particularly sensitive to shooting at the nearby
    Jewish settlement of Gilo, built on land occupied in 1967,
    because it considers it part of Jerusalem.

    Violence flared a year ago when a Palestinian uprising
    began against Israeli occupation. The latest surge followed
    the assassination by Palestinian gunmen of ultranationalist
    Israeli cabinet minister Revaham Zeevi outside a Jerusalem
    hotel.

    Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Gideon Meir said that
    Israel was determined to provide protection for its citizens
    and has to respond when confronted with violence .

    "An assassination of a democratically elected Israeli
    cabinet minister which was really crossing all red lines,
    there was no other choice. So there was no other choice for
    the Israeli government but to provide protection for its
    citizens, " Meir said
    Israeli tanks initially moved deep into Bethlehem,
    rumbling along a road that leads to the biblical city's Church
    of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus. Then
    they moved back, halting a few hundred metres (yards) inside
    the city.

    Tracer bullets lit the sky overnight as Israeli soldiers
    and Palestinian gunmen fought in the Bethlehem area, reviving
    a battlefront that had been dormant for weeks. Palestinians
    said about 16 people were wounded in the fighting.


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