Posted on 11/22/2002 1:31:30 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
A British aid worker was killed Friday in a U.N. compound in the West Bank during a gunbattle between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen — the first senior U.N. official to die in over two years of fighting.
The United Nations accused Israeli soldiers of preventing an ambulance from immediately reaching Iain Hook, a senior manager for UNRWA, the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees. The Israeli army said he was evacuated from the U.N. compound in the Jenin refugee camp as soon as possible.
The death occurred hours after Israel reoccupied the West Bank town of Bethlehem for the first time since August, following a Jerusalem bus bombing Thursday that killed 11 people, four of them children.
With the incursion, Israel has retaken control of all Palestinian population centers in the West Bank except for the quiet oasis of Jericho — mirroring the massive deployment that capped military offensives in April and June.
Confirming Israeli control in those areas, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said agreements reached in August to give Palestinian forces responsibility for security in Bethlehem were "canceled and don't exist."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is facing a primary next week against his foreign minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for control of the Likud Party, resorted to biblical warnings in alerting Palestinians that Israel would show no mercy as it hunts for militants.
"Anyone who hurts Israel, a little or a lot, his hand will be chopped off," Sharon said as he inspected a security fence being built around Jerusalem to try to prevent militants from staging attacks.
Hook, 50, was killed while trying to evacuate staff from a U.N. compound of mobile trailers in the Jenin refugee camp during a clash between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen, a U.N. statement said.
At the time, Israeli troops had surrounded a nearby hide-out of an Islamic Jihad leader, Abdullah Wahsh, demanding he surrender.
Palestinian gunmen fired at the troops, and an exchange of fire erupted, Palestinian witnesses said. Hundreds of Palestinian youngsters threw stones at the soldiers, who returned fire and called in helicopter gunships, the witnesses said.
"Several bullets hit the trailer and hit him," U.N. spokesman Sami Mshasha said.
A U.N. statement said Israeli soldiers refused immediate access for an ambulance and Hook died before reaching the hospital. "It is not known at this time whether the delay resulted in the death," the statement said.
An army spokeswoman, Capt. Sharon Feingold, said Hook was evacuated as soon as was possible.
The Jenin Hospital director, Mohammed Abu Ghali, said the bullets retrieved from Hook's abdomen were so-called "dum-dum" bullets, which explode on impact, and which Palestinians say Israeli soldiers use. The army has denied using such ammunition.
Lt. Col. Olivier Rafowicz, an army spokesman, said Abu Ghali was unreliable and the Palestinians should check their own ammunition.
Netanyahu expressed his condolences and promised an investigation in a phone call with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
An army statement said it hadn't been determined who fired the fatal shots.
Hook, who arrived in the region last month, was the first senior U.N. official to be killed in two years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Two local Palestinian workers for UNRWA were killed previously, Mshasha said.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was "greatly disturbed" the army prevented the ambulance from getting through immediately, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York.
Elsewhere in the camp, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy was killed and an Irish national was wounded. And in the Gaza Strip, two Palestinian assailants and an Israeli soldier were killed: One Palestinian had tried to infiltrate a Jewish settlement and the second — from the militant group Hamas — had attacked an army patrol.
The violence came a day after a 22-year-old Palestinian from the Bethlehem area, Nael Abu Hilail, blew himself up on a Jerusalem bus crowded with children. Eleven people were killed, including four children aged 8-16.
Two militant Islamic groups, Islamic Jihad and Hamas, claimed responsibility. In the Gaza refugee camp of Jebaliya, Hamas leaders told about 2,000 supporters that attacks would continue.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo condemned "all acts of violence which target Palestinian and Israeli civilians." He blamed Israel for the violence, but called on Palestinian factions to stop targeting Israeli civilians.
Early Friday, Israeli tanks and troops reoccupied Bethlehem, searching for militants and destroying the home Abu Hilail's parents recently rented — a measure meant to discourage suicide attacks and punish bombers' families.
Troops also parked tanks outside the Church of the Nativity to prevent gunmen from seeking refuge there. In the April offensive, gunmen hid at the church, leading to a monthlong standoff.
Army officials said the Israeli presence in Bethlehem was open-ended, but that troops hoped to be out by Christmas so tourists can return.
However, in the past 26 months of fighting, Israeli soldiers have repeatedly kept foreign visitors out of Bethlehem, Jesus' traditional birthplace, citing security reasons. Palestinian merchants have complained the closure is destroying the town's economy.
I'll be watching you...
SR
As far as traffic, been up for well over a year now and never had a problem. Iv'e had some pretty busy times and my code has hung tough.
SR
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