Israeli Tanks Enter Gaza Town

23/02/2003| IslamWeb

About 20 Israeli tanks entered the Palestinian town of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip early Sunday, residents said. The town is across from an Israeli village hit by rockets a few days earlier. The tanks, accompanied by attack helicopters, headed for the center of town, firing on a house and blocking all access roads as occupation soldiers imposed a curfew, confining residents to their homes, witnesses said. There were no reports of casualties.

The Israeli occupation army would only say there was an operation in progress there.

Israeli incursions into Gaza have become frequent as Israel says it is moving against what it calls the "terrorist infrastructure" there, targeting resistance activists, destroying houses and blowing up workshops where weapons allegedly are made.

Man Indicted in U.S. Denies Jihad Link

Meanwhile, one of eight men indicted in Florida on terrorism-related charges denied involvement with the Islamic Jihad group.

He told The Associated Press on Saturday that he was a teacher of Islam but never was part of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, resistance group that the U.S. government calls a terrorist organization.

The 50-count indictment lists 14 bombings and attacks associated with the group, including a bomber attack in Haifa last June that killed 20. The group is held responsible for a total of 100 deaths.

One of those indicted, Abdel Aziz Awda, 52, who lives on the Gaza Strip, said he visited the United States several times between 1989 and 1991. During one of those visits, he said he met with computer engineering professor Sami al-Arian, one of the eight indicted who is on paid leave from the University of South Florida.

The indictment says al-Arian, 45, used the school as a cover to bring Islamic Jihad members to the United States under the pretense of attending academic conferences.

Awda insists he was never a member of Islamic Jihad, however, three senior members of the group say he was one of the first members and left the group a decade ago after a falling out.

Awda was deported by Israel to Lebanon in 1988 for being a member of Islamic Jihad. He returned to the Gaza Strip in 2000.

In Other Developments

*_Also Saturday, a senior Palestinian official ruled out the possibility of a truce in attacks by militant Palestinians until Israel stops its "aggression and occupation."

Planning Minister Nabil Shaath spoke to reporters after talks with Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and U.S. threats to attack Iraq.

"The Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people are committed not to stop the intifadha (uprising) until the Israeli aggression and occupation are eliminated," he said.

*_Families in Nablus picked through piles of rubble on Saturday after several buildings were damaged in Israeli searches for militants.

*_A meeting between Sharon and opposition leader Amram Mitzna was postponed for "technical reasons," diplomatic officials said. Sharon is trying to bring the left-of-center Labor Party into his government, but Mitzna made a campaign pledge to shun such an alliance. Mitzna has since said he will join a Sharon-led government if the prime minister agrees to take significant steps toward resuming peace talks with the Palestinians.

PHOTO CAPTION

Palestinians carry the body of Tareq Abu Rami, who was killed by Israeli occupation soldiers a day earlier as he tried to enter the internationally illegal Israeli settlement of Dugit, in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2003. An Israeli army commander said soldiers at a lookout near Dugit spotted Rami (AP Photo/Brenna