[Via... http://www.egroups.com/group/Communist-Internet ] . . ----- Original Message ----- From: Downwithcapitalism <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2001 7:11 PM Subject: [downwithcapitalism] FW: Israeli intensifies ethnic cleansing (con't.) Reuters. 17 May 2001. Israelis, Palestinians Threaten Intense Conflict. Excerpts. GAZA Israelis and Palestinians faced the specter of increased death and destruction on Thursday after senior officials of both sides threatened to intensify a conflict that has killed more than 500 and wounded thousands. Israeli Public Security Minister Uzi Landau, speaking in New York, said the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was escalating its reaction to the Palestinian revolt and warned of possible resort to "all-out" combat to quell the unrest. Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, a top Palestinian presidential aide, vowed on Thursday that Palestinians would step up their struggle against Israeli occupation in response to a new round of Israeli missile attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Abdel-Rahman denounced a late-night Israeli helicopter bombardment of Palestinian security posts as "Sharon's madness" and said it would not snuff out the nearly eight-month-old uprising for independence. Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, returning to Gaza after visits to Egypt and Tunisia, issued a message of defiance. "They think they can bring the Palestinian people to their knees, forgetting that...we will never be humiliated and we will never surrender,'' he told reporters. The two-pronged Israeli aerial attack wounded at least 14 people in the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza and knocked out electrical power in the West Bank city of Jenin. It was the third such operation in a week of spiraling violence. "Bombardments, assassinations, reoccupation of cities will only lead to Palestinian anger and to more determination to finish the occupation and drive out settlers," Abdel-Rahman told Reuters. Dore Gold, Sharon's senior adviser, suggested the Israeli attacks would continue, saying: "This is not a conflict Israel can win with one military operation." Late on Wednesday, some 5,000 residents encircled the missile-damaged compound in Jabalya, the largest Gaza Strip refugee camp, chanting "Revenge, revenge, revenge." In Jenin, two Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at police headquarters. The army said it struck a building "used to manufacture weapons and mortar bombs," but Palestinian lawmaker Jamal Shati said, "This is a lie." Early on Thursday, Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered a Palestinian-ruled area of the Gaza Strip, the Khan Younis refugee camp, the latest in a series of incursions that have fuelled Palestinian anger. Palestinian gunmen and Israeli forces exchanged fire. A 67-year-old civilian on his balcony was critically wounded by Israeli gunfire, hospital officials and witnesses said. SPAM TO FOLLOW Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
