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Israeli Tanks Move Toward Bethlehem
Reuters
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Aug. 15) - Israeli tanks moved into positions near the
West Bank town of Bethlehem hours after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned
the Palestinian Authority it could pay a heavy price if a 10-month-old
uprising does not end.
The midnight movement of at least a dozen tanks on Tuesday night came 24
hours after Israeli tanks entered the northern West Bank town of Jenin and
demolished a police building in a response to Palestinian suicide bombings.
The force withdrew from Jenin three hours after the incursion, the deepest
into Palestinian territory since an uprising against Israeli occupation
erupted last September after peace talks stalled.
Overnight, Palestinian witnesses said tanks were poised on the edge of two
villages under Israeli security control east of Bethlehem, the town where
Jesus was born, and were inside the village of Beit Tamre, which had been
placed under curfew.
Tanks were also at the edge of the Palestinian-ruled towns of Beit Jala and
Beit Sahour, which adjoin Bethlehem, but had not entered territory under
Palestinian control, they said.
"Whoever has turned to the way of terror will also pay a political price,"
Sharon said on Tuesday, referring to Israel's takeover of nine Palestinian
offices in and around Jerusalem after a suicide bombing killed 16 people in
the city last week.
"If the violence continues the Palestinians will lose more assets and they
have something to lose," he told a ceremony for Israeli police.
Three Palestinian police and a civilian were hurt in the Jenin raid which was
criticised by the United States, United Nations, France and Russia.
U.S. President George W. Bush described the Middle East as a "cauldron of
violence," calling on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to "clamp down on
the suicide bombings and on the violence."
"The Israelis must show restraint," he added.
The Palestinian Authority branded the operation a "declaration of war" and
Palestinian diplomats sought a meeting of the United Nations Security Council
on Friday to discuss the Israeli raids and an international protection force.
The incursion followed two suicide bombings inside Israel -- including the
attack in central Jerusalem -- which were carried out by two Palestinians
from villages near Jenin in the West Bank.
IN ISRAEL'S SIGHTS
"We believe that the entry of the Israeli tanks into Jenin city is part of
the Israeli plan to undermine the peace process and to undermine the
Palestinian Authority. We have been saying that this is Israel's exit
strategy from the peace process," said Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb
Erekat.
Palestinian-ruled Bethlehem and Beit Jala appeared to be in Israel's sights
following a protracted gunbattle in the area on Tuesday morning.
Sharon pledged to crack down on the frequent shooting from Beit Jala towards
Gilo, a settlement built on the outskirts of Jerusalem on land occupied in
the 1967 Middle East War. Israelis regard Gilo as a neighbourhood of
Jerusalem.
"We will also reach a point where Gilo...won't be under fire," Sharon said.
Palestinian security officials said they had evacuated police posts in
Bethlehem on Tuesday, after Jerusalem's Israeli mayor Ehud Olmert suggested
an assault was imminent.
"I expect that the response will be similar to that which was carried out in
Jenin -- a broad, massive operation with consequences in Bethlehem too,"
Olmert told Army Radio.
Arafat was to hold an emergency meeting with top Arab diplomats on Wednesday
in Cairo to discuss the deteriorating Middle East situation.
More than 500 Palestinians and some 150 Israelis have died in the violence
which erupted after peace talks deadlocked.
Reuters 19:46 08-14-01
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"Never cease in the fight for peace, justice, and equality for all people. Be
perisitent in all that you do and don't allow anyone to sway you from your
conscience.".....Leonard Peltier
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