Israel’s Military Blunder Against Palestinians Under Occupation Continues As a Traumatized International Community Helplessly Watches on

26/05/2001| IslamWeb

GAZA (Islamweb & News Agencies) – A traumatized international community continues to helplessly watch on as Israel’s on-going military orgy against Palestinians under occupation continues.
Israeli occupation troops shot and wounded four Palestinian policemen in the northern Gaza Strip early on Saturday, and tanks firing heavy machineguns then thrust into the area, Palestinian officials said.
The fresh violence followed an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Friday night and the killing of eight Palestinians, most during a roundup of Resistance ring leaders in the West Bank, as part of an Israeli strategy aimed at sidelining the Palestinian National Authority.
The latest cycle of tit-for-tat assaults has largely derailed a U.S. peace mission led by envoy Anthony Zinni.
A Palestinian public security spokesman said four policemen were riding in a jeep in the Palestinian-ruled town of Beit Hanoun when they came under Israeli fire early on Saturday.
He said the security men were on a patrol to prevent Palestinian Resistance men from firing mortars from the area on Israeli posts in the Gaza Strip as they had done in the past.
Shortly after the jeep attack, 16 tanks rolled into the town and took up positions while soldiers with loudspeakers ordered residents to stay in their homes, the security spokesman said. ``The Israelis are now occupying most of Beit Hanoun,'' he said.
Hospital officials said one officer was critically wounded with a bullet to the head. The others were moderately wounded.
Israel carried out on Friday what it said was its biggest roundup of suspected Resistance ring leaders in Palestinian-ruled areas since the Palestinian Authority was founded in 1994,
Israeli occupation forces killed six Palestinian security men and arrested 50 people in the sweep in the West Bank, which the occupation army claimed was carried out because Arafat failed to conduct a crackdown.
In a separate incident, occupation soldiers shot dead two armed members of the Islamic Jihad group near the city of Hebron.
Bombs from Israeli F-16 warplanes hit a complex used by Arafat's elite Force 17 guard unit in Gaza City at night.
Sharon was criticized for the operations by Palestinian officials and by some Israelis, and was warned by a Palestinian armed group not to target Arafat.
Hamas said on Friday it would not be daunted by foreign pressure or by the arrest of its members and vowed further attacks on Israelis until ``the liberation of all of Palestine.''
The group, which opposes the Oslo accords, has launched Resistance bombings that have killed scores of Israelis in the 15-month-old Palestinian uprising. It says its recent attacks have been to avenge deadly Israeli assaults and killings of prominent Resistance leaders.