Israel Tank Fires on Palestinian Car

07/04/2001| IslamWeb

JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - An Israeli tank fired from a hillside position, killing a senior activist from the Resistance Islamic group Hamas as he drove his car in a West Bank town Wednesday, witnesses and Palestinian security sources said.
The activist, Saleh Darouzeh, 38, was alone in his red Volkswagen when it was hit by five shells in Nablus, the witnesses said. The car was destroyed in the attack, which sent black plumes of smoke rising over the town.
Palestinian ambulances rushed to the scene and recovered the body, which was torn to pieces by the force of the shells.
Israel's occupation army said it was checking into the report, but had no immediate comment.
``This assassination is intended to hit the (Palestinian) uprising with the aim of stopping it,'' said Jamal Salim, a Hamas spokesman in Nablus. ``Hamas will not hesitate to respond to this brutal crime.''
Darouzeh belonged to Hamas' political wing, and was not part of the military arm, said Salim, adding that he had been arrested several times previously by Israel.
Hamas has carried out repeated bomb attacks against Israeli targets during the current uprising and says it will continue its campaign despite a so-called cease-fire declared last month.
Israel has often carried out targeted attacks against suspected Palestinian Resistance activists, a policy that has drawn widespread international criticism. Palestinians say more than 30 people have been killed in such attacks since the current uprising against Israeli occupation erupted last September.
Israel, unashamedly, claims it carries out the assaults because the Palestinian Authority has refused to crack down on the Resistance.
Israel has arrogantly been demanding that the Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, arrest dozens of suspected Resistance men. But Palestinians security chiefs have said they have no intention to do so since it is the peoples' right to resistance occupation and nobody can deny them that.
The two sides were scheduled to have a security meeting Wednesday night, and the Palestinians said they would present Israel with a list of 50 suspected Israeli terrorists that they want arrested.
``We will not let (Jewish) settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip kill and terrorize our people,'' Palestinian intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi told the Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam.
Jewish extremists are suspected in a shooting attack Thursday in which three Palestinians, including a baby, were killed. The attackers apparently escaped from the West Bank into Israel, but no arrests have been made.
Israel effectively appointed by the United States as judge and juror in the conflict, dismissed the list as a Palestinian publicity stunt.
In intifadha confrontations Tuesday near the Gaza-Egypt border, a 10-year-old Palestinian boy was critically wounded by Israeli gunfire, doctors said.
Also Tuesday, a pregnant Israeli woman was killed near the West Bank settlement of Immanuel after a Palestinian taxi driver swerved after his car was hit by a stone, Israeli police spokesman Rafi Yaffe said.
It was not clear if Israelis or Palestinians threw the stone, he said. The taxi driver was injured and could not immediately answer police questions.
Since the uprising began in September, more than 500 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and more than 100 on the Israeli side.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Israeli occupation soldiers walk around tanks deployed in the West Bank near Hebron, Al-Khalil July 18, 2001. Israel claims that it isbolstering its occupation forces in the West Bank as a warning signal to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to stop anti-Israeli attacks but an invasion of areas he controls was not imminent. Palestinians they have drawn out a Resistance map plan should Israel decide to recapture territory now under Palestinian rule. (Nir Elias/Flash 90 via Reuters)
- Jul 18 1:26 PM ET