Posted on 09/12/2001 7:46:38 PM PDT by Davea
Thursday, September 13 9:50 AM SGT
Israeli forces take over Jericho: Palestinians
JERICHO, West Bank, Sept 13 (AFP) -
Israeli troops, supported by tanks and helicopters, took control of the Palestinian-ruled city of Jericho in the West Bank Thursday after entering under cover of night, Palestinian security forces said.
Sporadic gunfire could still be heard after the Israeli forces moved into the autonomous zone after simultaneous incursions from the city's north,south and east, the Palestinian sources said.
There was no immediate word from the Israeli side.
All the Palestinian security offices are located in the Palestinian headquarters in Jericho, near the Jordanian border by the Dead Sea, according to sources.
The Israeli troops reportedly took control of the city at 03:45 a.m..
The tanks entering from the south worked their way up to the gates of the key Palestinian security base, while the other two units deployed in the town centre.
Tanks and armoured cars could be seen throughout the town, according to residents.
Bulldozers destroyed crops around the town, the same sources said.
There was no word on casualties.
More than 20 tanks were said to be involved in the night time operations which were facilitated by the Israeli use of flares.
The purpose of the incursion was not immediately clear, but the use of bulldozers suggested that the Israeli forces intended to tear down key Palestinian buildings.
Heavy exchanges of gunfire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen could be heard earlier as the troops moved some 500 metres (yards) into the autonomous zone in the south of the city near the Aqbat Jaber refugee camp.
Three combat helicopters hovered above.
Late Wednesday a female Israeli settler from the Alfei Menache settlement in the West Bank was shot dead by Palestinian attackers.
On Sunday, Palestinian gunmen ambushed an Israeli school bus near the Jordan valley city of Jericho, killing the driver and a teacher, and wounding three other teachers.
Jericho was also the scene of frequent exchanges of fire in the early months of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, which erupted last September 28 and which has left more than 795 people dead, most of them Palestinians.
Some 5,000 Jewish settlers live in the Jordan Valley.
Earlier Wednesday ten Palestinians were killed in fresh Israeli strikes against "terrorist operations".
Nine people were killed and nearly 50 wounded in the West Bank during a second night of incursions in and around the autonomous Palestinian town of Jenin in a move the army said targeted "bases for terrorist activity."
But a top Arafat aide, Nabil Abu Rudeina, described the Jenin raids as "a new massacre against Palestinians."
A 10th Palestinian was killed and two wounded when troops opened fire on a taxi near Qurara town in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources said.
Tanks rolled into Jenin under cover of darkness and opened fire, destroying a Palestinian police post during exchanges of gunfire.
Pathetic -- they dance at 10,000 American dead, but the loss of crops and a building is a massacre?
Did you see him try to answer at the press confernce today, totally defending the Israeli position of pre-emptive attacks on known terrorists.
That was pretty cringe-making. I don't have much use for the modern American press, but they really did nail him on that one.
If he was anyone else, I think they might have hammered him harder.
<\~:>)
It was a hellishly hot and desolate place.
Maybe a little hotter today.
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