WEST BANK/JERUSALEM/GAZA: ISRAEL HAS CLAIMED RESPONSIBILITY FOR AN ATTACK THAT KILLED A PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST FROM THE MILITANT ISLAMIC GROUP HAMAS / EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF JAVIER SOLANA URGES FOR AN END TO THE CONFLICT

Record ID: 400872

  • Title: WEST BANK/JERUSALEM/GAZA: ISRAEL HAS CLAIMED RESPONSIBILITY FOR AN ATTACK THAT KILLED A PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST FROM THE MILITANT ISLAMIC GROUP HAMAS / EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF JAVIER SOLANA URGES FOR AN END TO THE CONFLICT
  • Date: 25th July 2001
  • Summary: (U4) NABLUS, WEST BANK (JULY 25, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV CROWD OF PALESTINIANS SURROUNDING CAR WRECKAGE 0.04 2. SV PALESTINIAN POLICE SIFTING THROUGH WRECKAGE AND REMAINS OF BODY 0.11 3. SV OF POLICE SIFTING THROUGH WRECKAGE / PULL OUT TO WIDE VIEW OF THE SCENE 0.25 4. CU DAMAGED CAR PARTS ON PAVEMENT 0.32 5. SLV
  • Embargoed: 9th August 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NABLUS, AL-RAM CHECKPOINT NEAR RAMALLAH, WEST BANK / JERUSALEM / GAZA
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA2HPI1Q5HMAVBPPC03TYJ85DHQ
  • Story Text: Israel has claimed responsibility for an attack that
    killed a Palestinian activist from the militant Islamic group
    Hamas near the West Bank city of Nablus.

    The killing of Salah Darwaza coincided with a visit to
    the region by European Union foreign policy chief Javier
    Solana and efforts by Israeli and Palestinian peace activists
    to urge both sides to collaborate and work towards ending the
    conflict in the region.



    Israel killed a Palestinian activist of the militant
    Islamic group Hamas on Wednesday (July 25), a move
    Palestinians said would set back international efforts to end
    10 months of bloodshed.

    Palestinian witnesses said they saw what appeared to be
    four rockets or tank shells strike a red car driven by Salah
    Darwaza, 35, near the Al-Ayn refugee camp close to the West
    Bank city of Nablus.

    Others said it seemed Israeli tanks stationed on a hilltop
    overlooking Nablus had fired shells while aircraft hovered
    overhead.

    A Reuters correspondent at the scene in Nablus said
    medical workers were collecting pieces of Darwaza's body from
    the mangled metal wreckage of the car he was driving.

    The Israeli army claimed responsibility for the attack in
    a statement. It said Darwaza was a prominent member of the
    Hamas in Nablus and had helped plan a series of bombings in
    Israel since the start of a Palestinian uprising in late
    September.

    Jamal Salim, a Hamas leader in the Nablus area, said
    Darwaza, who had been imprisoned by both Israel and the
    Palestinian Authority in the past, was a member of the group's
    political wing and not involved in "military operations".

    But the Israeli army said eight Israelis were killed and
    more than 100 wounded in attacks planned by Darwaza.

    Speaking to the media on Wednesday Israeli prime minister
    Ariel Sharon's spokesman, Raanan Gissin confirmed that Darwaza
    "was killed when his car exploded in the city of Nablus".

    "One must understand that Mr Darwaza was one of the senior
    members leading the terrorist activity recently, particularly
    inside Israel with the full knowledge of the Palestinian
    Authority," he added.

    The killing of Darwaza coincided with a visit to the region
    by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana who was
    meeting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in the Gaza Strip,
    after talks with Israeli leaders the previous day.

    Ahmed Abdel Rahman, an aide to Arafat, told Reuters that
    the Palestinians would urge Solana and the international
    community to send an international observer force "without
    delay...to all Palestinian areas under aggression, and that
    step could help bring about a real calm".

    Solana told reporters following his meeting with Arafat
    that the, "European Union is happy with having the third
    party monitoring and we are ready to help if necessary but we
    will not be a reason not to deploy or not to have this force
    as soon as possible".

    Accompanying Solana, Palestinian cabinet minister Nabil
    Shaath condemned the Israeli strike on Darwaza.

    "We have informed Mr Solana that it is difficult to ask the
    Palestinian people to stop its resistance against the Israeli
    occupation when Israeli troops are carrying out killings,
    violations, assassinations," he said.

    The United States has criticised these targeted killings,
    saying the policy escalates violence at a time when the world
    community is trying to encourage Israel and the Palestinians
    to implement a ceasefire.

    Palestinians say Israel has assassinated around 40
    Palestinian activists since an uprising against Israeli
    occupation erupted last September after peace talks stalled.

    Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon maintains no further
    steps can be made towards resuming peace talks until all forms
    of violence end. Palestinians on the other hand seek an
    immediate return to peace talks.

    Meanwhile Israeli and Palestinian peace activists made a
    separate appeal to passive peace camps on both sides to work
    in partnership to end 10 months of bloodshed and return to
    peace talks.

    A statement drafted and signed by activists on both sides
    was the first joint endeavor undertaken by since the
    Palestinian uprising for ending occupation began in September.

    Palestinian Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo initiated the move
    together with dovish Israeli left-wing leader Yossi Beilin
    last month.

    "We want to talk to both peace camps, not to those who
    reject peace because we will not be able to convince them. We
    are talking to our own peoples, to our own families, to our
    own constituents and tell them, 'Don't give up on hope, we
    cant afford it' ", said Beilin at the press briefing in
    Al-Ram, near Palestinian-ruled Ramallah.

    And in Jerusalem some 50 students gathered at the United
    Nations (U.N) building to protest against the kidnapping of
    three Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah and the United Nation's
    handling of a videotape that may shed light on the
    cross-border operation that took place in October.

    Israel's Defence Ministry has lashed out at an U.N.

    investigation team which it said had refused to collect
    evidence from Israel and would not be visiting the Jewish
    state during the course of its work.

    Israel planned to lodge an official complaint to the world
    body and was considering other means of protest.

    Israeli officials have also accused U.N. peacekeepers of
    assisting Hizbollah guerrillas, a charge the United Nations
    Interim Force (UNIFIL) in Lebanon rejects.

    During Wednesday's demonstration, student spokesman Aviram
    Sushard said, "We came here to say that we are protesting and
    we will not be silent until those soldiers and those people
    will come home to their families, to us, to the Jewish land,
    to Israel. We came here to protest about the U.N. that conceals
    vital information".

    The U.N. has also come under fire from Lebanon and
    Hizbollah guerrillas for the videotaped footage.

    The U.N. denied for months that it had the tape. Now it is
    offering to allow Israeli and Lebanese officials to view the
    footage with the faces of non-U.N. personnel obscured.

    Israel objects to this editing of the tape, while Lebanon
    and Hizbollah saying showing the video to Israel in any form
    amounts to providing their enemy with information.


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