- Title: VARIOUS: HIGH SECURITY MAINTAINED AMID ISRAELI FEARS OF PALESTINIAN ATTACKS
- Date: 27th April 2002
- Summary: 4. SLV TROOPS CHECKING MAN AT KIOSK STALL; MV MAN'S BAG BEING CHECKED; MV POLICE WOMAN KEEPING WATCH ON STREET PAN STREET (3 SHOTS) 1.30 1. SLV STREET WITH POLICE CHECKPOINT; SLV CAR BEING CHECKED; SLV MAN TURNING AROUND FOR SECURITY CHECK; MV POLICE CHECKING YOUNG WOMAN'S BAG (5 SHOTS) 0.29 2. MV ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL, MARK SOFER 0.32
- Embargoed: 12th May 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK / JERUSALEM
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVAERQKULE25OT73S95NBAFML89C
- Story Text: High security has been maintained in Jerusalem amid
Israeli fears of Palestinian attacks after Israeli forces
raided the West Bank city of Qalqilya, detaining at least 13
Palestinians.
A third round of talks between Israeli and Palestinian
negotiators overnight aimed at resolving a three-week-old
stand-off at Bethlehem's besieged Church of the Nativity broke
off without result.
Israeli troops maintained tight security in Jerusalem
on Friday (April 26, 2002) ahead of Muslim friday prayers. Soldiers
patrolled the streets and checked pedestrians as well as cars.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli forces raided the West Bank
city of Qalqilya despite a fresh call from U.S. President
George W. Bush for Israel to complete a pullout from
re-occupied Palestinian areas.
The army said troops had detained at least 13 Palestinians
"suspected of carrying out terrorist activities against
Israeli citizens" in the sweeps through Qalqilya and the
villages of Beita, Silt a-Dhar and Jaba'a.
Witnesses said about 15 tanks and armoured personnel
carriers pushed into Qalqilya and that soldiers conducted
house-to-house searches after declaring a curfew.
Israel said the operation in Qalqilya was to arrest
terrorists and extremists and they would withdraw from the
area as soon as it had been completed.
"Hopefully in the very near future we will be totally out
of Qalqilya as well when we've finished this particular, as I
say, pinpointed operation," said Israeli foreign ministry
official, Mark Sofer.
The operation followed talks Bush held at his Texas ranch
with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who warned the U.S.
president that the United States risked "grave consequences"
for its Middle East interests if it did not moderate its
support for Israel's military crackdown on the Palestinians.
Bush urged Israel to end peacefully its sieges of
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's office and Bethlehem's
Nativity Church and to conclude a pullout from West Bank areas
seized in a campaign launched on March 29 after suicide
attacks had killed scores of Israelis.
In Bethlehem, Israel allowed nine Palestinians aged 14 to
20 to leave the 1,700-year-old church on Thursday (April 25)
along with the bodies of two men shot dead by Israeli troops.
Another round of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over the
fate of the 230 people inside, including gunmen, clerics and
civilians, ended inconclusively on Thursday.
Palestinian legislator Salah Taamari described the talks
as constructive and positive but also difficult. He said the
Palestinian side wanted to consult with Arafat before
returning to negotiations. Arafat has been isolated in his
West Bank compound in Ramallah by the Israeli army since
December.
"I believe further talks will be determined by Israeli
approval for our request to meet President Arafat. We feel
this is crucial," Taamari said near the church, built over
what Christians believe was the birthplace of Jesus.
One of the teenage boys released on earlier Thursday spoke
to Reuters Television. Sixteen year-old Abd al -Hai Abu Srour
said: "The gunmen are awaiting the results of the talks that
are going on, but none of them will surrender."
Dozens of gunmen wanted by Israel have been holed up at
the shrine, built over the site revered by Christians as the
birthplace of Jesus, for three weeks. Israel demands the
militants surrender for trial or go into exile.
Security sources said the nine young people released on
Thursday had been taken into Israeli custody for medical
treatment and questioned to determine if any had been involved
in anti-Israeli violence. The sources said the group was
likely to be released on Friday.
Israeli forces have ringed the church since April 2,
trying to snatch Palestinian gunmen who burst inside to seek
sanctuary after Israeli soldiers raided Bethlehem as part of a
sweep for Palestinian militants across the West Bank.
At least 1,313 Palestinians and 454 Israelis have been
killed in a 19-month Palestinian uprising against occupation.
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