[Via... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Downwithcapitalism <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2001 6:31 PM Subject: [downwithcapitalism] FW: 'Great Catastrophe' marked by violence Associated Press (additional material by Reuters). 15 May 2001. Palestinians mark anniversary of displacement after Israel's creation. RAMALLAH, West Bank On the anniversary of their uprooting in 1948, tens of thousands of Palestinians jammed town squares throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday, holding up "V" for victory signs and chanting that they would never surrender. Four Palestinians were killed and at least 129 injured in clashes. The violence broke out after a mournful three-minute siren rang across the West Bank and Gaza Strip to mark "Al Naqba," or the catastrophe, the term used by Palestinians to describe their displacement during Israel's founding. "Faith, faith, courage, courage, stand strong in the face of this increasing aggression, for the sake of freedom," Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said in the taped speech broadcast to rallies over loudspeakers. Israel marks the date of its establishment - May 15, 1948 - according to the Hebrew calendar, and this year it fell on April 26. Some 750,000 Palestinians fled or were driven out of their homes during the 1948 Mideast war. Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire Tuesday, including three stone throwers. The fourth was a bodyguard for Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the Islamic militant group Hamas. The army told reporters at Nahal Oz army base, just outside the Gaza Strip, that the man was killed when tanks fired on a Hamas unit spotted firing mortar bombs from inside Gaza. Hamas identified him as Abdel Hakim Al-Manaema, a bodyguard to Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. It said the killing was an "assassination" and vowed revenge. The Israeli army said a tank shell struck two Palestinians who had a car and launched a mortar bomb near the Nahal Oz checkpoint on the Gaza-Israel border. It initially said both men were killed but later confirmed only one death.< "A tank fired in the direction of the unit after confirming that it was in fact a mortar unit," Major General Ganim Hamada said. "The tank hit the unit and afterwards we entered Area A (the Palestinian-ruled area) with tanks and armored vehicles." Hamada said the Israeli forces had taken a mortar launcher and a mortar bomb. A bloody corpse lay on a stretcher near Hamada as he spoke. The army said the dead man had been part of the Hamas unit but gave no further details to identify him. Israeli forces have made several incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas in the past few weeks, despite criticism by the United States. Palestinian police said the Israeli tanks had fired at a Palestinian police post in the attack, and hit a car in which the man was killed. Six other people in the area were wounded, they said. Palestinian witnesses said an Israeli tank pushed the car into Israeli territory after the incident. Hamas officials confirmed the Palestinians involved were members of their movement. Senior Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi accused Israel of a "sinful assassination operation to be added to the long files of Israel's crimes." Hamas officials said an Israeli helicopter gunship had fired missiles at the men, but the army denied this. "Hamas will never keep silent and it will chase this enemy in every place and will get the revenge for the martyr soon," Rantissi told Reuters. Hamas has opposed interim peace deals signed between Israel and the Palestinians and has taken an active role in the current uprising. Fierce fighting erupted near the West Bank towns of Ramallah, Nablus and Tulkarem. At a traffic circle near Ramallah, a regular flashpoint during Israeli-Palestinian fighting that broke out Sept. 28, stone throwers took cover behind overturned car wrecks as a steady stream of ambulances picked up protesters wounded by Israeli fire. Two Palestinians were killed in Ramallah and 17 were wounded. Palestinian militiamen hiding in empty apartment buildings shot at Israeli soldiers and at one point, two Israeli tanks rumbled into Palestinian-controlled territory to quell the shooting. Hamas, meanwhile, swore to avenge the death of Abdel Karim Maname, a longtime Hamas activist killed while firing a mortar shell. "Our reaction will be like an earthquake that will rock the ground under the feet of the Zionists," said Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas spokesman. The group has carried out a number of recent suicide bombings in Israel. In last year's Al Naqba commemorations, four Palestinians were killed and at least 320 Palestinians and 15 Israeli soldiers hurt. In this year's ceremonies, tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied in towns across the West Bank and Gaza Strip. At noon, a three-minute siren rang out, accompanied by the sounds of Muslim prayer calls and church bells. >From the Nusseirat, Bureij and Mughazi refugee camps in the center of the Gaza Strip, some 30,000 people walked to the main north-south road. The crowd chanted "no surrender" and "the uprising will continue until we uproot the occupiers from our land." Several old men carried keys to their former homes in what is now Israel, and gunmen fired in the air. Amina Abu Sadda, 55, wearing a traditional black robe with red embroidery, said she was two years old when she was displaced. "I have fed my children, mixed in with the mother's milk, the words 'right of return,'" she said as she walked in the march. Some 30,000 Palestinians jammed the main square of the West Bank town of Nablus. The governor of the city, Arafat confidant Mahmoud Aloul, told the crowd that the struggle against Israel must continue. "We must fight the killers of our children," said Aloul, whose son, Jihad, was killed by Israeli fire in a clash last fall. SPAM TO FOLLOW Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
