Israeli Troops Kill Three Palestinians
23/09/2005| IslamWeb
Israeli soldiers have killed three Palestinian fighters in Tulkarim in the West Bank, drawing strong condemnation from the Palestinian resistance group, Islamic Jihad.
The three fighters from al-Quds Brigades were killed early on Friday just hours after Israeli soldiers evacuated an army base.
Khalid al-Batsh, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, held Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defence Minister Saul Mofaz responsible for what he called "a deliberate assassination".
Al-Batsh told Aljazeera on Friday that Islamic Jihad will not allow Sharon to settle his domestic feud with former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the expense of Palestinians.
"But we assure him [Sharon] that this would not happen," he said.
Al-Batsh added the "crime" was a clear message that the Israeli occupation still exists and Palestinians are still being targeted.
Official account
Israeli troops went into the village of Alar in the Tulkarim area after midnight, Palestinians and Israeli military officials said.
The soldiers planned to arrest suspects, the officials said. Two armed Palestinians fled the scene and opened fire on Israeli soldiers, who returned the fire. Palestinians said the two men, both Islamic Jihad fighters, were killed.
A third Islamic Jihad fighter, who had been in hiding, came out towards the troops slightly later, and during another exchange of fire he was also killed, an Israeli army spokeswoman said.
"The operation was a direct assassination of both activists, not an arrest attempt, as the three killed were activists of al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad's military wing," Al-Batsh told Aljazeera.
On 25 August in a similar raid in the nearby Tulkarim refugee camp, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians, at least two of them unarmed teenagers.
Reduced violence
Despite a ceasefire declared in February that has drastically reduced violence after nearly five years of conflict, Israel continues to target Islamic Jihad cells in the Tulkarim area.
Shortly after the truce was declared, Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for a bombing attack in Tel Aviv that killed five Israelis.
In Washington on Thursday, US President George Bush asked Jordan's visiting King Abdullah II to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to help advance Middle East peace negotiations.
Bush said Abdullah "graciously agreed".
Mission completed
On Thursday afternoon, Israeli forces evacuated the Dotan base, last used as a command post during last month's "disengagement" operation that included evacuating four West Bank settlements.
Though not part of the disengagement plan that included removing all 21 Jewish settlements from Gaza, the evacuation of the Dotan base signalled that Israeli forces have "completed their mission" in connection with the withdrawal, the military said.
Tragedy struck a few hours earlier, when a group of Palestinians entered the base, thinking mistakenly that it was already empty. Israeli soldiers opened fire, killing 19-year-old Alla Khamtouni.
The Israeli military commander said soldiers, fearing a bomb attack, fired warning shots, but one killed the teenager. He was unarmed.
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