A week into Israel's largest military offensive in the West Bank since 1967, troops on Thursday took over Nablus, fought intense battles with Palestinian gunmen barricaded in nearby refugee camps and tightened a cordon around armed Palestinians holed up in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.
Armed Palestinians inside the ancient basilica, built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born, said Israeli troops blew open a metal door leading into a church courtyard and fired inside, wounding three people. The Israeli army denied soldiers made a move on the church, one of Christianity's holiest shrines, but said troops were chasing gunmen in the area, AP reported.
The Israeli military prevented reporters from reaching the church to assess the rival claims. All six West Bank towns reoccupied by Israel in the past week have been declared closed military areas, and reporters have been ordered to leave.
Five Palestinians were killed in Thursday's clashes, including three gunmen and a church caretaker, who witnesses said was shot while walking to the Church of the Nativity from his home.
Elsewhere in Hebron, an Israeli officer in a Border Police undercover unit was killed Thursday in a clash with Palestinian gunmen, Haaretz reported.
The officer was killed during a siege on a home in Hebron where a wanted Palestinian activists and his brother were holed up. Israel Radio reported that when troops stormed into the house, they found the brother wounded inside, but the wanted man had apparently escaped.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army proposed Thursday that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat be deported.
Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz told reporters that, "When we take into account that the [Palestinian] Authority is a terror authority, which promotes and finances terror, and when we know that there is no chance of reaching a peace agreement with Arafat, it would be better for him to be outside."
Mofaz's opinion is at odds with that of Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, as well as that of a committee comprised of officers and officials from military intelligence, the General Security Services and the Israeli Mossad.
Jordan
Jordan's Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher was due to fly to the United States on Thursday to deliver a written message from King Abdullah II to US President George W. Bush on ways of ending Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territories, officials said.
"The message contains Jordan's view on how to stop the Israeli military escalation against the brothers in Palestine and their legitimate leadership," one official told the national news agency Petra.
In addition, the letter reiterates Amman's call "for the need to provide protection to the Palestinian people ... and for international intervention to stop this dangerous escalation that will drag the region to a new cycle of violence”.
"It also warns that more escalation will destroy the peace process," the official added.
Moasher is expected to meet with several US officials to review the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories and its repercussions in the region, the official added.
Jordan’s King Abdullah was pursuing his contacts with world leaders to find an end to Israel's large-scale offensive launched Friday against Palestinian territories and the headquarters of besieged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, officials said.
On Wednesday evening he telephoned Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik to see what Oslo can do to help implement UN Security Council Resolution 1402, AFP said.
The resolution voted last Saturday calls for an Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied since Friday, including the West Bank town of Ramallah where Arafat has been confined to his ruined headquarters by Israeli tanks.
On Tuesday, Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb telephoned US Secretary of State Colin Powell to warn him of the "Arab anger" that has gripped Jordan and the region and called for immediate US intervention. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
