Israeli Occupation Army Destroys Resistance Leader's Home

03/01/2003| IslamWeb

Israeli occupation army engineers destroyed the West Bank home of an Islamic resistance leader on Friday after violence rippled again through the occupied territories. The occupation army and Palestinian security sources identified the resistance man as Mohammed Brewesh, a leader of the Islamic Jihad group which has carried out resistance bombings and gun attacks on Israelis in a Palestinian uprising now in its third year.

At a West Bank detention camp late Thursday, Israeli guards fired teargas and stun grenades to break up a protest by Palestinian prisoners over alleged mistreatment.

The demolition of Brewesh's family home in Beit Kahil north of Hebron was part of a punitive Israeli policy which officials say has deterred militant violence. Palestinians and human rights groups denounce the policy as collective punishment.
Israeli occupation forces arrested Brewesh last summer, the sources said.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat  said earlier this week he feared Israel could exploit a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq to escalate military attacks on Palestinians. Israel, which reoccupied much of the West Bank last year following resistance bombings, says it acts only in self-defense.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon , elected two years ago on the strength of his hawkish image, faces national polls on January 28. Opinion polls Friday showed his rightist Likud party holding on to power despite a cash-for-votes scandal which has prompted a police probe.

WEST BANK TENSIONS HIGH

The occupation army said Friday that several dozen Palestinian prisoners were lightly hurt in disturbances at the Ofer camp, near Ramallah. The number of inmates has been swollen by Israeli sweeps.

Overnight Israeli guards used teargas and stun grenades to disperse inmates protesting against alleged poor conditions. The occupation army said a guard also suffered minor injuries.

Israeli occupation forces also arrested five Palestinians in the West Bank in swoops for suspected activists, the occupation army said.

Thursday, a resistance group linked to Arafat's Fatah resistance group took responsibility for the West Bank killing of a 70-year-old trader from northern Israel.

Masoud Elon's scorched body was found in a valley near the Jewish settlement of Bekaot. The resistance al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said in a statement to Hizbollah's al-Manar television that it killed a "Jewish settler" to avenge the killing of a Palestinian.

The United States, Israel's guardian ally, has been calling for calm in the Middle East to avoid complicating its plans for a possible military campaign against Iraq, which Washington accuses of seeking weapons of mass destruction.

The Palestinians obtained self-rule in parts of the West Bank and Gaza under interim deals in 1994-95 but negotiations on a state broke down in mid-2000, sparking the uprising in which at least 1,760 Palestinians and 676 Israelis have been killed.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian man sits in the debris of his house, which was destroyed by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank city of Hebron, January 3, 2003. Israeli occupation army engineers in Beit Kahil also destroyed the home of an Islamic resistance leader, after violence again rippled through the occupied territories. REUTERS/Loay Abu Hayk