Israel Hails, Palestinians Condemn & Hamas Vows To Avenge Killing

01/07/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTSPalestinians Accuse Washington of Giving Green Light to Israel for Targeted Assassinations & Condemn Shameful International Silence||Palestinian Youth Wounded in Deheisha Camp Near Ramallah Sunday Dies Monday & Occupation Troops Demolish Seven Palestinian Houses in Rafah, Gaza||An Aqsa Brigade Activist Leader Arrested in Salfit Near Nablus||Second Front With Lebanon-A Ticking Time-bomb||On the Diplomatic Front, President Mubarak Urges Bush to Give Details of How He Intends to Implement His Mideast Peace Vision and King Abdullah II of Jordan Discusses Mideast Peace with Japanese Leaders in Tokyo|| STORY: Israel said on Monday it had dealt a major blow to the militant group Hamas by killing a master bomb-maker and promised to keep up such attacks.

Palestinians condemned Sunday's killing of Muhanad al-Taher and one of his lieutenants in the West Bank city of Nablus as state-sponsored assassination. Hamas promised to avenge his death, raising fears of a new surge in Middle East violence.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told Reuters: "We condemn the assassinations of two Palestinians in Nablus. This is Sharon's plan to escalate the situation."

He accused the United States of giving Sharon the green light for such attacks and criticized the international community for staying silent.

Israel has killed scores of militants it says were behind attacks on Israelis. Palestinians have branded the killings "war crimes" and the practice has been condemned internationally.

Tahir spent three years in a Palestinian prison but was released in September 2000, when the Palestinian uprising erupted after peace talks collapsed. (Read photo caption)

Israel has been emboldened and the Palestinians angered by President Bush's call last week for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to be replaced with new leaders "uncompromised by terror."

ISRAELI OCCUPATION ARMY KEEPS TIGHT GRIP & COMMITS MORE ATROCITIES 

Israeli occupation forces have kept a grip on Palestinian-ruled cities in the West Bank after a major new.

Witnesses said three Israeli tanks and a bulldozer entered the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip early on Monday and demolished seven houses. They fired shells and Israeli occupation troops exchanged fire with armed Palestinians. Hospital sources said a Resistance man and a civilian were wounded.

An 18-year-old Palestinian shot by occupation troops on Sunday during a stone throwing protest in the Deheishe refugee camp near Bethlehem died on Monday, hospital sources said.

Israeli occupation troops also entered Salfit town south of Nablus overnight and arrested Anan Hashash, 28, a senior activist in the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militia, Palestinian security officials said. Occupation Soldiers were searching homes and detaining some residents, they said.

SECOND FRONT WITH LEBANON-A TICKING TIME BOMB

Also Monday, anti-aircraft artillery fired by the Hezbollah Resistance group in southern Lebanon on Israeli warplanes rained down on northern Israeli towns, damaging a wedding hall in Kiryat Shemona. There were no reports of injuries.

Lebanese witnesses said Israeli warplanes flew three reconnaissance missions over southern Lebanon, drawing anti-aircraft fire from Hezbollah on the Lebanese side near the border. Hezbollah's media office in Beirut said the planes were confronted by the group's "air defenses."

The planes flew over Sidon and Tyre on the Lebanese coast and Nabatiyeh inland as well as area Palestinian refugee camps, the Lebanese witnesses said.

Lebanese security officials in southern Lebanon said several rounds were fired from Hezbollah anti-aircraft guns.

Gabi Naaman, head of the Shlomi regional council, told Israel Radio that shrapnel rains down on the town almost every week.

The firing by Hizbollah has become a regular occurrence in the past few months with sometimes as many as three or four incidents a week.

Hizbollah is shooting anti-aircraft batteries against ongoing violations by Israeli Air Force warplanes of Lebanese air space.

ON THE DIPLOMATIC FRONT

In Cairo, President Hosni Mubarak urged President Bush on Monday to make clear how he plans to implement his vision for Mideast peace, which includes a call for a change in Palestinian leadership.

Speaking to reporters after a foreign policy session with his senior advisers, Mubarak also said peace would be hard to obtain unless Israel halts its incursions into Palestinian cities.

In Tokyo, Jordan's King Abdullah II discussed Mideast peace with Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi and his foreign minister Yoriko Kawaguchi. Discussions covered President Bush's proposal to prod Israelis and Palestinians toward peace talks. Kawaguchi told Abdullah of Japan's desire to let Palestinians choose their own government through elections, Horiguchi said. The future of Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat was not covered in the meeting, he said.

The trip was Abdullah's second to Japan since he ascended the throne in February 1999.

He was scheduled to meet with senior lawmakers and Emperor Akihito Tuesday, before returning to Jordan later that evening.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinian Hamas bomb-maker Muhanad al-Taher looks through the window of a Palestinian jail in this three-year-old photo released by his family July 1, 2002 in the West Bank city of Nablus. Israeli leaders hailed the killing of al-Taher as a resounding military success but the Palestinians condemned it as state-sponsored assassination. Hamas has vowed to avenge the death. (Reuter