Gunmen in disguise kill praying settlers

The Guardian (UK) ^ | Saturday March 8, 2003 | Reuters News Agency

[FreedomCalls]

Palestinian gunmen disguised as religious Jews killed two Israelis in a raid on a West Bank settlement yesterday.

Two militants infiltrated the Kiryat Arba settlement near the divided West Bank city of Hebron and opened fire on settlers gathered for prayers.

The gunmen killed a married couple before troops shot them dead. Two settlers and a soldier were wounded. Less than two hours later, two other militants tried to infiltrate the neighbouring Negohot settlement and were shot dead by soldiers. A military spokesman said one of the gunmen detonated an explosive belt attached to his waist.

The attacks took place hours after Israel's army seized part of the northern Gaza Strip, carving out a security zone in what the army called an open-ended campaign to thwart Hamas rocket attacks on Israel. A leaflet distributed in the Palestinian section of Hebron said Hamas claimed responsibility in "revenge for the massacres of Palestinians, especially in Gaza".

Earlier on Friday, soldiers killed three gunmen who fired on a convoy of settlers in the Gaza Strip. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.

[FreedomCalls]

Remember this.

[Ciexyz]

Rabid dogs.

[TheBattman]

What in the world are you talking about. You sound like you are defending the Palestinians - if so, you are in the wrong place. If I misread your post, I appologize...but think about it.

[concerned about politics]

My heart goes out to all those who suffer in Israel. Every day they have to deal with those butchers.
Too bad Isreal couldn't just wipe them off the map.
I hope some day they will get retribution for all they've been through.

[chance33_98]

The idiots at Berkeley support freaks like these too...

[craig_eddy]

What a load of crap, nancyparr (member since 3/5/03)

[Uncle Miltie]

CAIR would like to remind you that Islam does not condone terrorism.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

If the pali terrorists would not attack Israel, there would be no collateral damage of their innocents. Their fate is in their own (barbaric, uncivilized) hands.

[FreedomCalls]

"Innocent"? Hardly.

[crazykatz]

Get out of here!! You reek of pro-muslime propaganda!!

[crazykatz]

I would like to remind cair that they themselves are LIARS!!

[fatidic]

CAIR lies.

[cksharks]

These idiots were offered a state and turned it down.for every Jew killied they ought to kill 1000 palis. This would bring all this crap to a halt. They only understand violence. Sooo give them some. Tell the rest of the arabs that their turn is next if they start anything. Then after the killing stops,start talks on peace. Like Rush says peaace thru victory. Sounds harsh but realities usually are.

[PhilDragoo]

Saddam Hussein bankrolls Pallie terrorism, and Yassir Arafat orchestrates it.

Terminate them both with extreme prejudice and then let's all just get along.

Further acts, deport the families, bulldoze the houses.

And finance the wall with the billions held by Hussein and Arafat.

One War On Terrorism and Israelis ought be considered allies of the first order.

[sheik yerbouty]

Have the armored bulldozers push the palisites into the sea or into perdition.

[FreedomCalls]

I would have posted this to "nancyparr" but for some reason the moderator deleted the post.

The incident to which she referred is disputed by the IDF. The explosion that killed the fireman was not from an Israeli tank. Here is the IDF account:

March 6, 2003

An Explosive Charge Detonated Inside the Store in Jabalya

The commander of the "Shaked" Battalion of the Givati Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Moshe, spoke this morning (March 6) about the IDF activity in the Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

"During the evacuation of the IDF forces, one of the tanks got stuck and we had to establish a continuous perimeter watch. One of the security vehicles was placed in a narrow alleyway lined with building. Stores lined the ground floor of each of these buildings. Suddenly, a bomb explodes from one of the shops and blew off the heavy iron door of the vehicle. We were lucky that it was an armored vehicle and no one was wounded," described Lt.Col. Moshe.


"The explosion destroyed the store and caused walls to collapse."

"The IDF forces were right next to a store. It is obvious that we would not fire at the store point blank with tanks shells. The control over the firing of the shells belongs solely to the commander and we know how to react in every situation, what to fire upon with shells and when. A tank commander will only fire if he receives an order from the battalion commander or if his life is in danger and firing is the only way to combat the danger. I was the battalion commander at that moment," noted Lt. Col. Moshe.

"We fired a shell a moment later, after the explosion, into an adjacent ally where an RPG rocket was threatening the tank. However this was only done after the incident where the bomb detonated inside the store. It was a powerful bomb that created a great blaze in the store and even, in our opinion, caused the walls to collapse and the ceiling to cave in," said Lt. Col. Moshe.

He added: "I imagine that many civilians were injured from that."
"As the ground commander I can say with certainty that the tank shell was fired at a lone terrorist armed with an RPG rocket, from a distance of 150-200 meters within the ally."


"We Did Not Fire at Terrorists for Fear of Hurting Civilians"

The battalion commander explained that according to his assessment, what happened during the course of the nighttime battle was that the IDF forces hit a number of armed terrorists as well - perhaps some of the eight which the Palestinians reported to have died during the night, were those armed terrorists who tried to confront the IDF forces.

"As battalion commander who has participated in a number of operations, I have encountered many similar situations. I can say that even this morning we encountered a number of situations in which we saw armed terrorists near unarmed people and refrained from shooting. This happens often. Usually the armed terrorists cynically exploit innocent civilians and children who want no part in the terror. We only fire if we are certain that we will only hit armed terrorists. We center on the infrastructure, on the fugitives we can locate, but the nature of the battle is such that nothing is certain. The moment you leave there are always more armed terrorists appearing from alleyways and rooftops, but we are prepared for the unexpected.


Tank Battalion Commander Excludes Possibility That Shell Hit Building

The "Storm" tank battalion commander Lt. Col. Dotan addressed this morning's event to the IDF website by saying that "the target of the operation was to detain a senior Hamas fugitive who was fleeing to the northern Gaza Strip."

"Jabalya is thought of as an armed Palestinian refugee camp," said Lt. Col. Dotan, and added "We were prepared to act. We went over the rules of conduct in battle. We carried out training exercises in special teams and with our forces and with an additional staff that is familiar with the terrain.

The battalion commander also noted that it is impossible that a tank shell hit the store in Jabalya. "The term 'store' and 'shell' and simply do not fit together for us. The firing of tank shells requires many permits, this is the way we prevent damage. The command to fire is given only in the event of a life threatening danger," said the Lt. Col.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

More hatred from the neighborhood terrorists...the Palestinians.

I am sure all the Jew-haters around the world...and this country....are rejoicing.

It is sick to even think about creating a Palestinian state with this stuff going on.

[ex-Texan]

Isreal needs to expel all 'Palestinians' immediately. That is the plan I think might really work, ship them all to Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq or where ever.

The only other choice is an 'Eye for an Eye.' That means killing Muslims while they are praying. Take 'yer pick. Sorry, but that is just how I feel. Arafat and his terrorists deserve to die ... the easy way or the hard way.

[Salvation]

they are going to take out Hamas in my opinion.

[Catspaw]

they are going to take out Hamas in my opinion.

Fine by me. I think of Hamas as "Iraq in Israel."