WEST BANK/ISRAEL: ISRAELI TROOPS HAVE BEGUN AN EXTENSIVE MILITARY OPERATION IN THE WEST BANK CITY IN RETALIATION FOR THE PALESTINIAN AMBUSH

Record ID: 640751

  • Title: WEST BANK/ISRAEL: ISRAELI TROOPS HAVE BEGUN AN EXTENSIVE MILITARY OPERATION IN THE WEST BANK CITY IN RETALIATION FOR THE PALESTINIAN AMBUSH
  • Date: 17th November 2002
  • Summary: (W3) HEBRON, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 17, 2002) (REUTERS) GV EXPLOSION AS ISRAELI SOLDIERS BLOW UP HOME IN EARLY HOURS OF THE MORNING GV ANOTHER EXPLOSION, SMOKE RISING (U2) HEBRON, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 17, 2002) (REUTERS) SV/SLV PALESTINIANS GATHERING AT SITE (2 SHOTS) CU PULL OUT SLV SOLDIER IN ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER (APC) SV PALESTINIAN LOOKING OUT WINDOW LV PALESTINIANS WALKING NEXT TO TANKS (U2) GAZA (NOVEMBER 17, 2002) (REUTERS) SLV PALESTINIAN SECURITY PERSONNEL COMBING THROUGH RUBBLE CU SPENT SHELL CASING SV OF RUBBLE SLV MAN GATHERING POSSESSIONS (U3) BALATTA REFUGEE CAMP, NEAR NABLUS, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 17, 2002) (REUTERS) LV DESTROYED PALESTINIAN HOME SLV PEOPLE RESCUING PIECES OF WRECKAGE FROM DESTROYED HOME SV WOMAN WITH CHILD SV MEN ON TOP OF DESTROYED HOME SLV CHILDREN REMOVING RUBBLE FROM HOLE IN WALL SV CHILDREN SEEN IN CLASSROOM THROUGH HOLE IN WALL SLV CHILDREN IN CLASSROOM (W4) HEBRON, WEST BANK (NOVEMBER 17, 2002) (REUTERS) LAS PALESTINIANS CARRYING BODY THROUGH STREETS SV OF FUNERAL PROCESSION
  • Embargoed: 2nd December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM / RAMALLAH, HEBRON AND BALATTA, NEAR NABLUS; WEST BANK/ KFAR SABA AND TEL-AVIV, ISRAEL
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1P7IYYBSDM72KDABRFBLYIHHK
  • Story Text: In retaliation for the Palestinian ambush that killed 12 soldiers and security men in Hebron, Israeli troops have begun an extensive military operation in the West Bank city, blowing up suspected militants' houses and commandeering buildings at strategic sites.
    Despite the military actions, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has came under pressure from hardliners in his right-wing government for an even tougher response.
    Israeli armoured vehicles poured into the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday (November 16) evening, backing up troops who commandeered homes and buildings at strategic sites.
    The troops blew up houses identified by the Israeli army as belonging to families of militants involved in the Friday (November 15) attack in which three Palestinian gunmen killed 12 Israeli soldiers and settler security men in Hebron.
    The militant Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the attack.
    The heavy Israeli casualties raised questions in Israel over how its vaunted military could emerge so bloodied from a battle with three gunmen. An Israeli colonel was killed in the ambush, the highest-ranking officer to die in two years of fighting.
    In further retaliation, Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles early on Sunday (November 17) at a metal workshop in Khan Younis in southern Gaza which the army said was used by Palestinian militants to make weapons.
    Six missiles slammed into the workshop, setting it ablaze.
    No one was hurt in the attack, the second on the workshop in the last three months.
    The army said the workshop was used to make weapons such as rockets and mortar shells for use in a Palestinian uprising for independence in the West Bank and Gaza, and described the attack as part of military "actions against terror".
    In Balatta refugee camp, near the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli forces blew up a house overnight as soldiers continued operations across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
    The demolition came as Israel lifted a curfew imposed after Israeli forces moved into the city earlier in the week.
    School children in the battered city returned to classes on Sunday, in one case using a classroom damaged by Israeli tank fire in clashes last week.
    Meanwhile, Palestinians in Hebron buried the three militants killed by Israeli soldiers after the ambush on Friday.
    Victims from the other side of the conflict were also buried on Sunday.
    More than 700 mourners attended the funeral of three Jewish settlers shot dead during the exchange of fire in the Hebron ambush.
    Their coffins, draped with Israeli flags, were brought for burial at a military cemetery in Jerusalem.
    In central Israel, hundreds attended the funeral of an Israeli colonel killed in the ambush. Colonel Dror Weinberg was the highest-ranking Israeli soldier to die in two years of fighting.
    The burials came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met his Cabinet and faced calls from Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other cabinet hardliners for a tougher response to a Palestinian attacks ambush that killed 12 Israelis in Hebron.
    Before the cabinet convened, Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz travelled to Hebron to meet field commanders.
    Netanyahu, vying with Sharon for the leadership of their Likud party ahead of Israel's January 28 general election, said he considered the peace deals dead and repeated his call for the expulsion of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
    During his meeting with foreign ambassadors Netanyahu said Arafat was actively involved in supporting attacks against Israel.
    "Mr Arafat is not merely passive, it is not merely that he is not lifting a finger to stop this terrorism he is actually engaged in lifting a finger, more often a hand or even two hands to torpedo any effort to stop the terrorism," Netanyahu said.
    Palestinian officials, meanwhile, blamed Israel for the escalation of violence.
    "The lesson from this escalation is that, without a political initiative that can bring back the hope to the Palestinians and the Israelis of a possible peaceful end of the occupation and of achieving peace, there is no way in which the violence can stop. Unfortunately, it will be further escalated," Ghassan Khatib, Palestinian labour minister said.
    The upsurge in violence made it even more difficult for U.S. envoy David Satterfield to discuss the "roadmap" to peace, an internationally sponsored plan which prescribes reciprocal measures leading to a Palestinian state in 2005.
    Palestinians have accepted the plan in principle but say it lacks enforcement clauses. Israel says it is short on provisions to rein in Palestinian militants.
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