Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon voiced regret Monday over the killing of three Palestinian women by an Israeli tank shell on Sunday in the Gaza Strip, and said that it was a mistake.
According to Israel Radio, Sharon expressed his “sadness” for the women’s death in a statement at the Knesset.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat responded Sunday to the killing of the Palestinian women and said that Israel had not stopped shooting at Palestinians even for one day. Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said Sunday that "the killing of the women proves that Sharon's government does not want a ceasefire, and all that they say about ceasing fire is a media stunt."
The Palestinian news agency, WAFA, reported Sunday that an Israeli tank fired a shell which exploded near the victims' tent close to the Jewish settlement of Netzarim.
Palestinian hospital officials said four other people were injured by the explosion, one seriously.
An Israeli army spokesman told Haaretz newspaper that Israeli soldiers had “fired at two armed Palestinians in the area who were firing on an IDF outpost near Netzarim.”
The spokesman said that the two had been in open terrain, claiming that Israeli soldiers had no knowledge of three women being killed.
Mohammed Al Rash, who lives 30 meters (yards) from the tent that was hit, told Reuters that three tanks shells were fired and that one had hit the structure in which the Bedouin family lived.
"We were surprised by the tankfire because we had not heard any shooting nearby," he told Reuters.
The three victims were identified as Salmiya Al Malalha, 56, Hekmat Atallah Al Malalha, 17 and Nasra Salem Al Malalha, 65, according to WAFA.
Since the outbreak of the latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict last September, Reuters reports that Palestinians have killed approximately 88 Israelis with weapons ranging from stones and knives to machineguns and car bombs. The latest suicide bombing raises that toll by at least 20. Israeli military sources have reported well over 600 injuries to Israelis of Jewish descent.
In the same time period, according to CNN, Israeli soldiers and armed Jewish settlers have killed 13 Arab Israelis and 450 Palestinians with weapons ranging from machineguns and tanks to US-made Apache helicopter gunships and F-16s. The most recent Israeli tank attack raises that death toll to 453.
According to Amnesty International, nearly 100 of the Palestinians killed were children.
In addition, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society has reported over 14,000 Palestinians wounded.
Jewish author Noam Chomsky, who according to a New York Times Book Review article is “arguably the most important intellectual alive,” has been quoted as saying: “State terrorism is an extreme form of terrorism, generally much worse than individual terrorism because it has the resources of a state behind it.” – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
