Posted on 04/04/2003 11:06:58 AM PST by miltonim
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Israel arrested two wanted Palestinian militants in a two-day sweep that ended on Friday. The operation included the controversial removal of a thousand men from a Palestinian refugee camp.
Anwar Alian, the leader of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, was allegedly planning to carry out a car bomb attack inside Israel in the near future. He is blamed for many shooting and bombing attacks in the area of Tulkarem, security sources said on Friday.
Alian surrendered without a fight after several hours. His aid, Yahi Tawir and 21 other wanted Palestinians were also arrested during the two-day sweep. Tawir is accused of perpetrating terror attacks in the Tulkarem area.
An explosives laboratory was also uncovered and detonated, the army said.
Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Netanya on Sunday in which dozens of people were wounded, is committed to the destruction of the State of Israel.
Alian's brother, Ahmed, who was affiliated with Hamas, was a suicide bomber who blew himself up two years ago in a terrorist attack in Netanya, killing three and wounding 55.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been responsible for most of the deadly suicide bombing attacks in the last 30 months.
"The purpose of this operation was to go after [leader of Islamic Jihad in Tulkarem] who we knew was planning to carry out two terror attacks, one involved a car bomb and the second involved a suicide bomber," a senior security source said in a telephone interview. The source added that both were to have taken place soon.
"We prevented two horrendous terror attacks," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The temporary removal of some 1000 male residents between the ages of 14 and 40 from the refugee camp to a UNRWA school created an uproar.
PA minister Saeb Erekat called the move a population transfer, although the residents were all back in their homes on Friday. Human rights groups also decried the move.
An official from UNRWA, which is the main organization serving Palestinian refugees, was quoted as saying that the move violated legal norms.
But the senior security source justified the move by saying that Israel was trying to avoid civilian casualties by removing innocent civilians. "We were trying to save lives," she said.
"The fact that the complex operation ended without any casualties shows the importance of such measures," the army said in a statement.
Earlier, Israeli forces arrested Abed Al Haadi Hamshri, Tulkarem head of Tanzim, part of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
At least six Palestinians were killed during Israeli operations in the last two days, including a 14-year-old boy who tried to flee from soldiers as they were attempting to arrest a would-be suicide bomber.
Three would-be suicide bombers were captured this week, two in Nablus and one in Kalkilya, the security source said.
Despite the war in Iraq and international talks about the so-called "road map" to arrive at the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005, there has been no let-up in attempts to carry out terror attacks.
"As you can see the intent [to carry out attacks] is still there," the senior source said. "[We are] operating in a continuing relentless battle against terror."
Secretary of State Colin Powell was quoted on Thursday as saying that just because the road map would be issued it did not mean that "magical things" would happen and he said it would not be imposed on the two sides.
Palestinians as well as members of the Quartet - U.S., European Union, Russia and United Nations - have been pressing for the publishing of the road map, which has been postponed at least twice by Israeli national elections and the beginning of the war in Iraq.
Powell said the road map was due to be presented following the confirmation of newly appointed PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas's cabinet, expected in the next two weeks.
One "militant" was with Hamas, and other was with Islamic Jihad. Why wouldn't a conservative news service like CNS call them what they are -- terrorists.
That's the caveat.
Bush and Powell have CTA as far as the roadmap goes. The roadmap was required for King Abdullah of Jordan to sign on for the war.
Sharon is in the catseat. This is good.
By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem
Independent (UK)
02 October 2003
Israeli soldiers captured a local leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank yesterday.
Sheikh Bassam Saadi had been on Israel's wanted list for two years. Israeli soldiers found him hiding under a car in a pre-dawn raid. Islamic Jihad immediately threatened to avenge his capture, and there will be fears of a new militant attack.
Jenin refugee camp, where the Israeli army reduced an entire neighbourhood of more than 100 houses to rubble last year, has long been one of the main centres of Palestinian militancy. Many suicide bombers have been dispatched from its narrow, winding lanes, and the Israeli army frequently raids the refugee camp, looking for militant leaders. Jenin is the home turf of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, rather than Islamist groups such as Islamic Jihad, but it is one of the few places where the different factions cooperate, which has always made it a particular threat to the Israelis.
Sheikh Saadi, 42, was the leader of Islamic Jihad in Jenin. He always insisted to reporters that he was a leader of the group's political wing, and had nothing to do with the planning and execution of militant attacks - which might explain why he was captured rather than assassinated by the Israelis. But yesterday the Israeli army said it suspected him of dispatching a suicide bomber who killed one Israeli in an attack on a house in a remote village in July.
Israeli soldiers and tanks moved into Jenin refugee camp before dawn yesterday, backed by helicopters. They ordered residents out of one district and started searching house by house. Trained dogs found Sheikh Saadi hiding beneath a car. Palestinian witnesses alleged Israeli soldiers beat him after they found him.
"The enemy will pay a dear price for beating Sheikh Bassam Saadi and for its daily crimes on our people," warned a senior Islamic Jihad leader, Abdullah al-Shami, in Gaza.
Two of Sheikh Saadi's sons had recently been killed in clashes with the Israelis, according to Palestinian sources.
Israel has been actively seeking out Islamic militant leaders for assassination in punishment for suicide bombings. Last month, Israeli missiles were fired at the house of a senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, killing his son and bodyguard and leaving about 25 people injured, a day after two suicide bombings killed 15 people in Israel. Mr Zahar escaped with minor injuries.
On 6 September, the founder of Hamas, the wheelchair-bound Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was slightly hurt by an Israeli missile strike on Gaza City. He vowed that the "jihad will continue". The Israeli army accused him of plotting more suicide attacks.
Also yesterday, Israeli soldiers in plain clothes killed another Islamic Jihad militant and wounded a third in a separate, undercover raid in the West Bank city of Tulkarem.
Islamic Jihad has launched dozens of attacks, including suicide bombings, which have killed hundreds of Israelis during the three-year-old Palestinian uprising. The Palestinians marked the third anniversary of the intifada on Sunday with no sign that either side has a strategy to end the violence, which has killed at least 3,163 people, 502 of them children.
The Palestinian prime minister-designate, Ahmed Qureia, said yesterday that he had reached agreement with Yasser Arafat on the make-up of his Cabinet and would seek Parliament's approval at the weekend. Mr Arafat named Mr Qureia to replace Abu Mazen, who stepped down last month.
Mr Qureia, who is close to Mr Arafat and is also known as Abu Ala, is reported to want an Arafat loyalist, Nasser Youssef, as Interior Minister. He would take over the responsibilities of Mohammed Dahlan, a US favourite and Minister of Security Affairs in the outgoing Cabinet. Israel has not commented on the Cabinet but has said it will not work with any government controlled by Mr Arafat.
* Hamas said yesterday that the security services of an Arab country had foiled an Israeli plot to assassinate several of its political leaders abroad. It gave no details.
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