Posted on 08/26/2003 5:30:38 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
Israel Snatches Palestinian Gunmen From Hospital Beds in Dawn Raid
Published: Aug 26, 2003
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Also Tuesday, Muslim-Jewish friction intensified at a disputed holy site in Jerusalem. Police arrested three Islamic officials after Muslim worshippers scuffled with police officers escorting Jewish visitors. In September 2000, deadly riots erupted at the shrine following a visit by then-opposition leader Ariel Sharon. The unrest escalated into three years of fighting.
After Sharon's visit, the site - holy to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif and Jews as the Temple Mount - was closed to visitors. Police reopened it last week, with the initial acquiescence of the Islamic Trust, which administers the site.
The shrine is revered by Jews as the site of the biblical Jewish temples and by Muslims as the spot where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. It is a potent symbol of rival claims on Jerusalem.
In Nablus, troops locked down Raffidiyeh Hospital, knocked on the door of the intensive care unit and carried the two wanted men - members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group loosely affiliated with Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction - out of the ward and into military ambulances, said a doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The men - Othman Younis, 27, and Fahid Bani-Odeh, 25 - are now in Israel's Beilinson Hospital being treated for moderate injuries, military sources said.
Israel accuses Younis of helping to plan several attacks in which at least 10 people were killed, including an Aug. 12 suicide bombing that came in the middle of a ceasefire declared by the militant groups on June 29.
Younis and Bani-Odeh are "hardcore" members of Al Aqsa, said the group's spokesman, Abu Mujahed. He confirmed that Younis helped plan the suicide bombing.
The truce collapsed last Thursday after Israel killed a top-ranking Hamas political leader in retaliation for a Jerusalem bus bombing a week ago in which 21 people were killed.
Since the bombing, Israel has killed two senior Hamas members - and another five activists in the group - in pinpoint missile strikes which marked the renewal of Israel's policy to hunt down and kill militants. Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon has made clear that all members of the militant group are targets for "liquidation."
The latest missile strike, on a Gaza beachfront late Sunday, forced senior Hamas members to go into hiding, while the group's spokesmen turned off their phones. Hamas leaders were conspicuously absent from funerals Monday for the four men killed in Sunday's missile strike.
Hamas leaflets hung in mosques throughout the Gaza Strip instructed members to take precautions - such as not traveling in groups, avoiding use of their telephones, using makeup to disguise themselves and staying off main streets - so as not to be easy targets for Israeli "assassination."
Meanwhile, U.S.-backed Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas - who is trying to implement the so-called "road map" to Palestinian statehood - is also fighting off a campaign by Arafat to undermine him and reassert his authority over Palestinian security forces.
Abbas does not have a specific proposal, but his advisers have said he is hoping to negotiate a new cease-fire, this time making Israel a party to such a deal. Israel has said the Palestinians must live up to their obligations under the peace plan, including dismantling militant groups, and that it will continue hunting armed men until Palestinian security forces take action.
Brig. Gen. Jibril Rajoub, a former West Bank security chief named by Arafat earlier this week to the vacant post of national security adviser, said Tuesday that both sides must cooperate.
"We have to all think together how we are going to break the tension and put an end to the bloodshed," Rajoub told Israel Army Radio, speaking in Hebrew. "Part of it depends on us and the more important part depends on you and whether you are really willing to end the occupation."
Arafat fired Rajoub from his job as West Bank security chief after a violent argument in July 2002, but apparently brought him back in hopes of sidelining Abbas and his security chief Mohammed Dahlan. Rajoub and Dahlan have been rivals for years.
Secretary of State Colin Powell last week appealed in vain to Arafat to give Abbas full authority over security. But it appears Arafat hopes to undermine Abbas - who he appointed to the post of prime minister in April after intense U.S. pressure - through Rajoub, who is also popular with Israel and the United States.
Abbas has also been reluctant to crack down on militants, fearing it could spark civil war. He has appealed to Arafat to give him control of the key security branches, something he says is necessary to confront the militant groups.
Arafat also tried to get Gen. Nasser Yousef, a staunch supporter, appointed to the contentious post of interior minister, which Abbas has held onto since being appointed prime minister because of disagreements over what authority the post should have.
In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants fired Qassam rockets and mortar bombs at Israeli towns along the border and Jewish settlements in the coastal strip, the army said.
AP-ES-08-26-03 0749EDT
A disguised Yassir Arafat prepares for his next meeting of the Palestinian Authority cabinet.
This is where you see the true face of Palestinian Islam. If there is a "peaceful islam," it doesn't appear to have many followers among the Palestinians. These leaflets should be torn down by the imams---but the imams like bloodshed, and want the killers free to kill some more.
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Hamas leaflets hung in mosques throughout the Gaza Strip instructed members to take precautions - such as not traveling in groups, avoiding use of their telephones, using makeup to disguise themselves and staying off main streets - so as not to be easy targets for Israeli "assassination."… The men - Othman Younis, 27, and Fahid Bani-Odeh, 25 - are now in Israel's Beilinson Hospital being treated for moderate injuries, military sources said.
Athletes foot? The local schools and mosques must be full.
Go get 'em IDF!!!!
Here's three suggestions for your next Hamas targets. Wanted dead or alive.
Fri Aug 22,11:45 AM ET
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin -- the spiritual leader of the Hamas movement -- is wheeled along by bodyguards during the funeral of senior Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab. Islamic Jihad and Hamas formally ended their seven-week-old truce after the death of Shanab.(AFP/Mahmud Hams)
Fri Aug 22,11:45 AM ET
Hamas spokesman Abed al-Aziz al-Rantisi is surrounded by bodyguards as thousands of Palestinian mourners take part in the funeral procession of senior Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab in Gaza City.(AFP/Mahmud Hams)
Mon Aug 25, 8:13 AM ET
Palestinians carry the body of senior Hamas commander Ahmed Shtewe during his funeral in Gaza, August 25, 2003. Shtewe and three other Hamas members were killed in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City on Sunday. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
He is from the IDF!!
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