HEBRON, West Bank (Islamweb & Agencies) - Israeli tanks moved into the predominantly PalestinianWest Bank town of Hebron, Al-Khalil from three directions early Monday, destroying Palestinian police posts during a fierce exchange of fire, witnesses said. (Read photo caption below). The Israeli occupation army claimed that it was returning Palestinian fire from several locations in Hebron, the only West bank town divided into Israeli and Palestinian zones. Israeli occupation soldiers control the center of the city, where about 450 Jewish settlers live in three enclaves.
The Israeli tanks destroyed five posts belonging to Force 17, an elite unit of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's police. Palestinian officials said nine people were wounded, none seriously.
On Thursday, Israeli tanks moved briefly into the Palestinian part of Hebron after two Jewish settlers were shot and killed. Witnesses said Monday's operation was much larger. I
On Sunday, Israel's Cabinet approved a plan to build new communities near the Gaza Strip on territory that the previous government had considered giving to the Palestinians in a land-swap deal, an official said.
The decision drew criticism from Israeli opposition figures and environmental groups.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Cabinet approved the proposal to develop Israeli communities in Halutza Sands, a desert region adjoining the southeast corner of the Gaza Strip, according to Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin.
While the land is Israeli territory, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak had proposed that Halutza Sands be given to the Palestinians in exchange for Israel annexing Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank, according to Israeli media reports at the time.
Those negotiations collapsed amid the nearly 10 months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, and the Halutza Sands proposal is no longer on the table.
Meanwhile, in a latest bid to end Mideast violence, Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met in Cairo, Egypt, after each held separate talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Peres denied media reports that Israel was contemplating a large-scale military offensive in the Palestinian areas that could include driving out Arafat.
In Israel, Rehavam Zeevi, a right-wing member of Israel's Cabinet who favors tough action against the Palestinians, criticized Peres' meeting with Arafat.
In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, a member of the Islamic Resistance Jihad group was seized from the street by men believed to be Israeli undercover agents, according to Palestinian security sources.
Mahmoud Hamdan, 42, was grabbed by men who had been masquerading as street vendors in a market, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Israeli military sources confirmed that the occupation army was responsible, and claimed that Hamdan was a bombmaker for Islamic Jihad.
Also Sunday, an Israeli human rights group accused Israeli police in a West Bank settlement of torturing Palestinian teen-agers arrested for alleged stone throwing.
Ten youths, aged 14 to 17, held at the Gush Etzion police station said they were beaten and left in painful positions for prolonged periods of time, the Betselem human rights group said.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Israeli tanks moved into the West Bank town of Hebron from three directions early Monday, destroying Palestinian police posts during a fierce exchange of fire. Photo shows an Israeli tank lurching along a road leading to the internationally illegal Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip June 23, 2001, hours after the army destroyed at least 18 Palestinian homes in that area and in Rafah. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem