Posted on 08/14/2003 8:52:29 AM PDT by prairiebreeze
HEBRON, West Bank - Israeli troops killed a top Islamic Jihad fugitive in a raid Thursday, prompting threats of revenge by the militant group and putting new strain on an already shaky cease-fire.
The bloodied body of Mohammed Sidr was pulled from the rubble of a small warehouse after daybreak Thursday, after a standoff of several hours during which he occasionally traded fire with troops. The military said the warehouse doubled as a bomb lab.
Israel accuses Sidr of planning several bombing and shooting attacks, and Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Thursday called him a "ticking bomb." In December, Israel tried to kill Sidr in a helicopter strike, but he escaped. Two boys, ages 3 and 13, were killed instead.
The raid began at about midnight, and soldiers repeatedly called on Sidr over loudspeakers to surrender, witnesses said. The army said he fired at troops, and a gunfight ensued. At one point, an army bulldozer tore down the back wall of the warehouse. Israel Radio said troops fired an anti-tank missile, setting off blasts inside, apparently an explosives cache. Sidr apparently was alone.
After the body was pulled away, troops blew up the warehouse.
Israel holds Sidr responsible for the deaths of 19 Israelis and two international observers, one from Switzerland and one from Turkey, in several bombings and shootings. Eighty-two people were wounded in these attacks, the Israeli military said.
The Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) warned that such Israeli operations could destroy the cease-fire. An official statement charged that the raids are in violation of the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.
Sheikh Bassam Sadi, leader of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, promised revenge. "I assure our people that this crime in Hebron will not go unpunished," he said.
A statement on Islamic Jihad's Web site later said retaliation would be "like an earthquake (news - web sites) in the heart of the Zionist entity."
The killing of two Hamas members under similar circumstances last week led to a revenge attack on Tuesday in which a teenage Hamas suicide bomber killed a Jewish settler. On the same day, a bomber blew himself up in a supermarket in a central Israeli town, killing himself and a father of two. The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group with ties to Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s Fatah (news - web sites) movement, claimed responsibility.
Despite the growing tensions, Mofaz was to meet later Thursday with Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority are deadlocked over how to handle the Palestinian militant groups, and the argument is holding up implementation of the "road map" to Palestinian statehood by 2005.
Israel demands that the Palestinian Authority begin dismantling the two main groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as part of its obligations under the road map. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas says he will not confront the militants for fear of sparking a civil war.
Israel, in response, says it will not go on with the road map under these circumstances, and instead keeps chasing militants. Mofaz said Sidr posed an immediate danger. "He was indeed a ticking bomb. This is another example that terror is continuing, and that the Palestinian side is not acting to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure," he said.
Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian spokesman, said the United States must intervene quickly to rescue the cease-fire. "Without a firm stand from the United States that the two sides live up to their obligations with one grand gesture — that is the immediate implemenation of monitoring ... the cease-fire is finished," he said.
The militants who declared a unilateral three-month truce on June 29 see the ongoing Israeli raids as a provocation. The militants argue that the terms of their cease-fire permit them to avenge the killings of activists by troops.
Mofaz held Arafat largely responsible for the impasse, saying he was an obstacle to peace and that he suspected him of involvement in Tuesday's two suicide bombings. Arafat says he does not support attacks on civilians. "I wouldn't be surprised if Arafat is behind the recent terror attacks," Mofaz said Wednesday.
"Arafat continues to be an obstacle to this (peace) process. I am convinced that we need to reconsider the question of Arafat and what steps should be taken," Mofaz added.
Mofaz has been one of the most outspoken proponents of expelling Arafat, a step frequently debated by Israel's Cabinet but opposed by Israel's security services and in the end vetoed by Sharon. Those opposing expulsion say it would only boost the stature of Arafat, who has been confined to the West Bank town of Ramallah for nearly two years.
Palestinian legislator Saeb Erekat called Mofaz's comments "ridiculous and nonsensical."
"It's part of a series of accusations that aim at shifting the eyes of the world from the fact that the Israeli government is continuing to sabotage the vision of President Bush (news - web sites) and the road map," Erekat said Wednesday.
Also Thursday, Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Nablus destroyed the family home of the Hamas bomber who carried out Tuesday's attack, and arrested an alleged militant in the neighboring Askar refugee camp.
The Askar home of the other suicide bomber was destroyed a day earlier.
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