[Via... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Downwithcapitalism <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, May 14, 2001 1:51 AM Subject: [downwithcapitalism] FW: Israel intensifies ethnic cleansing (update) Reuters. 13 May 2001. Israeli Military Pounds Gaza With Rockets. Additional material by Associated Press. GAZA Israeli helicopter gunships and naval boats rocketed at least eight Palestinian armored personnel carriers in a wide-ranging bombardment of Palestinian security targets across the Gaza Strip early on Monday. Helicopters hovered over a security compound 300 meters (yards) from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Gaza City headquarters before they opened fire, the rockets glowing red against the black sky above Gaza. Thousands of Gaza City residents awoke as the ground shuddered from the explosions, shortly after midnight on Monday, the eve of a Palestinian national day of mourning to mark the anniversary of Israel's creation on May 15, 1948. Israeli navy ships fired shells toward a Palestinian navy office in the refugee camp of Nusseirat. Soon after, helicopters shot at Palestinian security points in Khan Yunis, Deir Balah and Jabaliya, witnesses and Palestinian security officials said. Those spots are all in Gaza. Tension in the area is expected to rise before Tuesday's anniversary of Israel's creation which Palestinians mark as the Nakba or "Great Catastrophe" of their uprooting from towns and villages in the first Arab-Israeli war. Palestinian Public Security Chief Abdel-Razek al-Majaydeh called the missile strike "an unprovoked attack." "The Israeli bombardment tonight in the Gaza Strip indicates that Israel is interested in escalating the tension and came without any reason," al-Majayden told Reuters. He said at least eight helicopters took part in the attack in Gaza City, central and southern Gaza. At least three Palestinian policemen were wounded, one in the leg. None appeared to be in serious condition. It was not immediately clear whether buildings near the armored vehicles were seriously damaged in the attack. The army said it targeted Palestinian armored personnel carriers in Gaza City, near the Jabalya refugee camp and in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. A Palestinian security official said at least eight armored vehicles were destroyed in the strike. ... Earlier on Sunday, Israeli bulldozers destroyed two buildings on the outskirts of the southern Gaza town of Rafah in what Palestinians said was the latest in a string of Israeli military incursions into Palestinian-ruled territory. The army said the area was under its control according to interim peace accords and that the buildings had been destroyed because gunmen used them as cover to throw handgrenades and fire at troops patrolling the border with Egypt earlier in the day. Israel and the Palestinians have disagreed over which areas constitute Palestinian-ruled territory along the border with Egypt. But Israel has acknowledged that it sent troops into Palestinian-ruled territory elsewhere in Gaza in recent weeks. Under attack from Palestinians and the international community for its settlement policy on occupied land, Israel hit back at demands that it freeze all Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank as a precondition for a renewal of peace talks. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a militant Hamas leader released from a Palestinian prison in Gaza Sunday said the mainstream Palestinian leadership agrees now that armed conflict is the only way to deal with Israel. Rantisi has been arrested for criticizing Arafat's Palestinian Authority but said Sunday that he had not been questioned during his week in prison. Rantisi told The Associated Press that despite his arrest, Hamas and Arafat see eye-to-eye now. Palestinians, including the Palestinian Authority, "believe that the only way for the Palestinians is to fight to defend their people, to defend their land," Rantisi said. Commenting on Rantisi's remarks, Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan, considered close to Arafat, said, "We can't be partners with the Israelis as long as their aggression continues." During the current wave of unrest, Hamas has taken responsibility for several attacks inside Israel. Also, Hamas said its activists have fired mortars at Jewish settlements in Gaza and villages just outside the territory. SPAM TO FOLLOW Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
