ShiningIce
3rd Level Green Feather
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2002
- Messages
- 4,722
- Points
- 38
HEBRON, West Bank (AP) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) called for strengthening the Jewish settlements in the Hebron area as he toured the West Bank town on Sunday, two days after Palestinian gunmen killed 12 Israeli security forces and guards here.
Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (news - web sites), who as prime minister signed a 1997 peace agreement that formally divided Hebron into Jewish and Palestinian sectors, said Sunday that he considered the deal "canceled" due to Palestinian attacks there.
Later at an Israeli Cabinet meeting, Sharon and Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again disagreed on the issue of exiling Yasser Arafat (news - web sites), Israeli radio stations reported. Netanyahu renewed his call for expelling the Palestinian leader, while Sharon again rejected the proposal, as he has several times in the past.
Sharon, his defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, and top army commanders toured the scene of the ambush as army tanks rumbled through the mostly empty streets that are once again under full control of the Israeli troops. The army has arrested at least 40 Palestinians since Saturday and has reinforced a curfew, military officials said.
According to Palestinians, the troops have taken over seven homes to use as lookout posts and have demolished two homes of suspected militants of the Islamic Jihad group, the group that carried out the attack.
Sharon said Sunday that Israel would bolster the Jewish settlements in the Hebron area by linking up several small settler enclaves in the city and the neighboring Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, just to the east of Hebron, Israeli radio stations reported.
It was not clear how Sharon intended to achieve this, and officials in Sharon's office were not immediately available for comment on the report.
About 450 Jewish settlers live in several enclaves near the center of Hebron, a city with about 130,000 Palestinian residents. In addition, several thousand settlers live in Kiryat Arba, about a half-mile away.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians live between the Hebron and Kiryat Arba settlements.
Israeli Housing and Construction Minister Natan Sharansky said Sunday that Israel might construct additions to the Jewish settlements to connect the two areas, which includes the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians. However, it was not clear how Israel could do this without removing the Palestinians.
"We have to change the situation in the field," Sharansky told Army Radio. "We have to build settlement contiguity between Kiryat Arba, the Cave of the Patriarchs and the settlement community in Hebron."
Israeli troops moved into Hebron and other West Bank cities in June following a series of Palestinian suicide bombings. The army pulled out of Hebron three weeks ago, saying the area was calm.
Meanwhile, Jewish settlers placed three shipping containers in a vacant lot near the scene of the Friday night shooting, saying they were establishing a new Jewish outpost in Hebron. "Death to Arabs," read the graffiti spray-painted on one of the containers, which will be used as makeshift homes, the settlers said.
"This is our place. It's our land. If we don't occupy it, they will, and they'll kill us," said one woman at the site, who refused to give her name.
The violence came during the visit to the region of U.S. envoy David Satterfield, who was trying to calm the situation. The U.S. State Department denounced the Friday ambush as a "heinous crime."
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said the Israeli takeover of the Palestinian side of Hebron was intended to derail the American efforts to bring a complete cease-fire.
"The continuation of the Israeli military escalation is not going to lead anywhere, apart from creating more violence," Abu Rdeneh said. The Israeli actions would delay the implementation of a U.S. plan to bring an end to violence and bring a resumption of peace talks, Abu Rdeneh said.
The Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) did not condemn Friday's shooting. The position is part of a policy under with the Palestinian leadership denounces violence inside Israel, but does not criticize attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites). The Palestinians want these areas for a future state.
Jewish settlers vowed revenge for the shooting attack in a rally Saturday night.
In a sign of the tensions, Israeli forces closed a liaison office in Hebron, ordering Palestinian officers who coordinated activities with Israelis to leave, Army Radio reported.
As one of the most volatile West Bank cities, Hebron is a frequent scene of violence. Israeli soldiers control the city center where about the Jewish settlers, including many extremists, live in the midst of the large Palestinian population, many of them fundamentalist Muslims.
In 1994, an American-born Jewish settler killed 29 Muslim worshippers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, reputed to be the burial site of the biblical Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and three of their wives. In 1929 and 1936, Arabs massacred Hebron's Jewish residents.
The U.S. State Department denounced the Friday ambush as a "heinous crime." It came after Satterfield met with Israelis and Palestinians to discuss a blueprint for a peace agreement.
The blueprint was already on the back burner before the bloody ambush. Israel was concentrating on a bitter campaign for Jan. 28 elections after the dovish Labor Party pulled out of Sharon's government. Its top ministers were replaced by hawks: Netanyahu as foreign minister and Mofaz as defense minister.
Mofaz on Saturday blamed the Palestinian Authority for the attack.
Netanyahu said he continued to support the expulsion of Arafat but aides to Sharon said a previous Cabinet decision not to expel the Palestinian leader remained in effect.
The United States opposes the expulsion of Arafat at a time when it tries to maintain Arab support for a possible strike against Iraq.
Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (news - web sites), who as prime minister signed a 1997 peace agreement that formally divided Hebron into Jewish and Palestinian sectors, said Sunday that he considered the deal "canceled" due to Palestinian attacks there.
Later at an Israeli Cabinet meeting, Sharon and Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again disagreed on the issue of exiling Yasser Arafat (news - web sites), Israeli radio stations reported. Netanyahu renewed his call for expelling the Palestinian leader, while Sharon again rejected the proposal, as he has several times in the past.
Sharon, his defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, and top army commanders toured the scene of the ambush as army tanks rumbled through the mostly empty streets that are once again under full control of the Israeli troops. The army has arrested at least 40 Palestinians since Saturday and has reinforced a curfew, military officials said.
According to Palestinians, the troops have taken over seven homes to use as lookout posts and have demolished two homes of suspected militants of the Islamic Jihad group, the group that carried out the attack.
Sharon said Sunday that Israel would bolster the Jewish settlements in the Hebron area by linking up several small settler enclaves in the city and the neighboring Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, just to the east of Hebron, Israeli radio stations reported.
It was not clear how Sharon intended to achieve this, and officials in Sharon's office were not immediately available for comment on the report.
About 450 Jewish settlers live in several enclaves near the center of Hebron, a city with about 130,000 Palestinian residents. In addition, several thousand settlers live in Kiryat Arba, about a half-mile away.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians live between the Hebron and Kiryat Arba settlements.
Israeli Housing and Construction Minister Natan Sharansky said Sunday that Israel might construct additions to the Jewish settlements to connect the two areas, which includes the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians. However, it was not clear how Israel could do this without removing the Palestinians.
"We have to change the situation in the field," Sharansky told Army Radio. "We have to build settlement contiguity between Kiryat Arba, the Cave of the Patriarchs and the settlement community in Hebron."
Israeli troops moved into Hebron and other West Bank cities in June following a series of Palestinian suicide bombings. The army pulled out of Hebron three weeks ago, saying the area was calm.
Meanwhile, Jewish settlers placed three shipping containers in a vacant lot near the scene of the Friday night shooting, saying they were establishing a new Jewish outpost in Hebron. "Death to Arabs," read the graffiti spray-painted on one of the containers, which will be used as makeshift homes, the settlers said.
"This is our place. It's our land. If we don't occupy it, they will, and they'll kill us," said one woman at the site, who refused to give her name.
The violence came during the visit to the region of U.S. envoy David Satterfield, who was trying to calm the situation. The U.S. State Department denounced the Friday ambush as a "heinous crime."
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said the Israeli takeover of the Palestinian side of Hebron was intended to derail the American efforts to bring a complete cease-fire.
"The continuation of the Israeli military escalation is not going to lead anywhere, apart from creating more violence," Abu Rdeneh said. The Israeli actions would delay the implementation of a U.S. plan to bring an end to violence and bring a resumption of peace talks, Abu Rdeneh said.
The Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) did not condemn Friday's shooting. The position is part of a policy under with the Palestinian leadership denounces violence inside Israel, but does not criticize attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites). The Palestinians want these areas for a future state.
Jewish settlers vowed revenge for the shooting attack in a rally Saturday night.
In a sign of the tensions, Israeli forces closed a liaison office in Hebron, ordering Palestinian officers who coordinated activities with Israelis to leave, Army Radio reported.
As one of the most volatile West Bank cities, Hebron is a frequent scene of violence. Israeli soldiers control the city center where about the Jewish settlers, including many extremists, live in the midst of the large Palestinian population, many of them fundamentalist Muslims.
In 1994, an American-born Jewish settler killed 29 Muslim worshippers at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, reputed to be the burial site of the biblical Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and three of their wives. In 1929 and 1936, Arabs massacred Hebron's Jewish residents.
The U.S. State Department denounced the Friday ambush as a "heinous crime." It came after Satterfield met with Israelis and Palestinians to discuss a blueprint for a peace agreement.
The blueprint was already on the back burner before the bloody ambush. Israel was concentrating on a bitter campaign for Jan. 28 elections after the dovish Labor Party pulled out of Sharon's government. Its top ministers were replaced by hawks: Netanyahu as foreign minister and Mofaz as defense minister.
Mofaz on Saturday blamed the Palestinian Authority for the attack.
Netanyahu said he continued to support the expulsion of Arafat but aides to Sharon said a previous Cabinet decision not to expel the Palestinian leader remained in effect.
The United States opposes the expulsion of Arafat at a time when it tries to maintain Arab support for a possible strike against Iraq.
