Posted on 07/25/2002 7:13:50 AM PDT by RCW2001
| Palestinian gunmen kill rabbi to avenge air strike | |
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(Releads with rabbi killed, claim of responsibility)
By Megan Goldin
JERUSALEM, July 25 (Reuters) - Palestinian gunmen shot dead
a Jewish rabbi settler on Thursday in what militants called the
first response to an Israeli air strike that killed 15
Palestinians including a top militant.
Two Palestinian militant groups claimed responsibility for
killing Rabbi Elimelech Shapira, 43, and wounding another man in
an ambush as they drove along a road near a Jewish settlement
close to the West Bank city of Qalqilya.
"The operation is part of the armed struggle and in response
to the assassination of our people in Gaza and (Hamas militant)
Salah Shehada," the Popular Army Front-Return Battalions, a
coalition of militant groups, said in a statement.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group which is part
of the coalition and has links to Palestinian President Yasser
Arafat's Fatah movement, also took responsibility for the ambush
which heightened fears of a fierce new round of violence.
The Islamic group Hamas has vowed to kill hundreds of
Israelis to avenge Tuesday's attack by an F-16 warplane which
fired a one-tonne guided missile at the house of Shehada,
commander of Hamas's military wing, killing him and 14 others.
Nine children were among the dead, most of them in buildings
near Shehada's home, and 145 were injured in an assault which
was criticised in Israel and abroad.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Israelis and
Palestinians alike must brace for more violence following the
air strike, in which he said Israel had made mistakes.
"I know that this is a serious escalation and I am really
afraid that innocent people on both sides will pay a high
price," Peres told Israel's Army Radio.
Palestinian witnesses said troops arrested four Palestinians
in Qalqilya soon after the West Bank ambush, including a
militant leader, and that an army bulldozer demolished the house
where he was found.
Hospital sources also said 10 Palestinians were hurt by a
blast between a minibus and a taxi in the West Bank city of
Jenin. The sources said the blast may have been caused by a
landmine planted by Palestinians as defence against Israeli
forces.
ISRAEL CRITICISED IN U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL
At least 1,467 Palestinians and 559 Israelis have been
killed since Palestinians began an uprising against Israeli
occupation in September 2000 after peace talks stalled.
Israel has rarely been confronted with as much criticism in
the 22 months of conflict as it has over Tuesday's air strike.
It faced more during a late-night emergency debate in the United
Nations Security Council.
Nation after nation said Tuesday's attack was unacceptable
and unwarranted. But U.S. officials said Washington, Israel's
closest ally, would oppose a draft resolution condemning the
attack if it were put to a vote.
In a gesture designed to help deflect criticism, Peres said
Israel would release $43 million of frozen Palestinian Authority
tax revenues and take other steps to ease hardships of 700,000
Palestinians living under Israeli curfew in the West Bank.
"We are making every effort to ease the escalation (since
the Gaza strike)," Peres said.
The announcement drew swift praise as a "small but very
welcome first step" from the European Union, which was among the
main critics of the air strike.
Israel launched the attack on Gaza one day after Hamas's
spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, said the organisation
would consider halting suicide attacks if Israel withdrew from
the seven occupied West Bank cities.
But Yassin said on Wednesday there would be "100 new Salah
Shehadas" and "new operations which will bring about the deaths
of hundreds" of Israelis.
Peres said it was unlikely that a dialogue before the Gaza
strike between the Palestinian Authority and militant groups
would have led to an agreement to halt attacks on Israel.
The U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv said it was taking the Hamas
threats seriously and reiterated a warning to Americans to
reduce their "exposure to risk" in the region.
((Jerusalem newsroom, 972-2-537-0502,
jerusalem.newsroom@reuters.com))
25 JUL 2002 13:31:39 WRAPUP 4-Palestinian gunmen kill rabbi to avenge air strike
Hahhahaha..... Your Palestinian heroes making Jihad on their own people.
They are not the brightest bulbs on the planet are they???
Goes to show you the world of difference between "civilized" violence and savages. Israel's violence is directed against the violent to the end of ending or curbing violence. The Hamas leader had killed many and would have killed many more if he weren't killed.
The Palestinians kill for vengence. There killing is not intended to end the violence, but to satisfy their own rage. This rabbi likely never killed anyone and never would have.
The entire world, Israel included, refuses to appreciate the level of barbarity of these people. There culture must be changed, and their xenophobia and violence leaves little choice but to change it by force.
Do with them what you will.
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