Posted on 08/12/2002 12:48:23 PM PDT by knighthawk
Palestinian sources said Monday that in the Jenin area Israeli troops killed a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Fatah. The man was identified as Ghazal Farahat, 23.
His family said they were asleep in their beds when soldiers burst into the house overnight and detained Ghazal. Shortly afterwards they heard gunshots and were later told by the soldiers they had killed him.
Israeli officials said Farahat was killed after he tried to escape by climbing down a drain pipe of the house and attempting to escape.
Farahat's father, Mohammed, said soldiers came to his house and arrested Ghazal. "They took Ghazal behind the house...and after a few minutes we heard shots, and then a jeep came and the soldiers came in and told me: we have killed Ghazal," the father said. After the troops left, the family found Ghazal's bullet-riddled body behind the house, Freihat said.
The military said Farahat had planted a number of bombs in the Jenin area, with the aim of killing Israeli soldiers or civilians.
During the night, Israeli troops arrested 11 Palestinians. All of them have been handed over to the Shin Bet, Israel's general security service, for questioning, Israel Radio reported.
In Gaza Strip, an Israeli soldier was injured Monday morning when he and his unit inspected the Karnei-Netzarim road, the radio reported.
Ceasefire
Ahmed Tibi, the Arab member of the Israeli parliament, said Monday that within a "matter of days" Hamas could sign a draft cease-fire agreement with Fatah and other groups to halt attacks within Israel. "I believe we are speaking of a total halt to terror attacks within the state of Israel," Tibi said, but added the final word of the understanding had yet to be released. A senior Hamas official said Sunday that Hamas and Fatah were among 13 Palestinian groups working on the document.
Asked when Hamas would sign the cease-fire plan, Tibi told Army Radio: "They are closer than they have ever been in the past." He said that Hamas had helped word the agreement, "and I believe it is a matter of days until they will give their answer regarding the substance."
"The fact that Hamas is meeting in a kind of modus vivendi with the Fatah organization over establishing a Palestinian state alongside Israel within the 1967 borders, is an important point," Tibi said. He added that the agreement constituted "important progress" despite the implication that anti-Israel attacks would continue in the West Bank and Gaza. Tibi said he hoped that until Hamas was ready to sign the current accord "no F-16 airplane will kill any Palestinian leader."
In an interview on Radio Monte Carlo, Ismail Hania, a Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, said that the document would state that the Palestinian struggle would from now on be concentrated within the areas Israel captured in the 1967 War; namely the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Hamas leader said that while Hamas has been involved in discussions on the document, the movement has yet to give final approval for it to be delivered to Yasser Arafat. Hania said that the document would also call on Arafat to establish a unity government to include Palestinian opposition groups.
This is kind of a curious quote. Is he referring to the last guy they whacked (and killed all those kids, of course) or Arafat?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.