Israeli troops Monday afternoon shot and killed two Palestinians who tried to attack a bus that was traveling in the Gaza Strip from Netzarim settlement to Karni crossing point, Israel Radio reported.
According to the report, the Israeli troops escorting the bus opened fire when the the two approached it. A few minutes before they were killed, an anti-tank rocket was fired at the bus, but missed. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
In a valley near Nablus, Islamic Jihad activist Rami Abu Bakr was killed and another operative, Fuad Ahmed, was wounded in an explosion. Ahmed said they were hit by an Israeli missile, but he could not say where it came from. The Israeli military said the two were trying to fire a shoulder-mounted missile at an army fuel tanker, but it blew up.
Earlier, Israeli troops shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian man at a checkpoint south of Jerusalem. According to Israel Radio, the car, with Israeli license plates, was traveling through the checkpoint when troops called on the driver to stop. When the driver refused, troops fired towards him. No weapons were found in the vehicle.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was evasive Monday when asked about reports that he is planning to step up strikes against Palestinian groups. Speaking to Army Radio, Mofaz said Israel is facing a growing wave of "terror," but that there would be "nothing very much out of the ordinary" in Israel's response.
Palestinian officials have accused Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon of escalating military action to deflect attention from corruption allegations that have been hurting his re-election bid. Indeed, two Israeli opinion polls indicated Monday that Sharon's Likud party is recovering somewhat from a drop in support.
Also on Monday, Palestinian parliamentary speaker Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) said Israel prevented him from traveling to Ramallah to open a session of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He said he asked to cross two military checkpoints between his hometown of Abu Dis and Ramallah but did not receive authorization.
"This is a continuation of the Israeli policy to implement the apartheid system and isolate the Palestinian people from each other," Qureia said. "This is also an indicator of the Israeli intention to paralyze the Palestinian Authority and destroy it completely," AP quoted him as saying.
On his part, the leader of Hamas rejected a call to halt attacks on Israeli civilians in the run-up to Israel's Jan. 28 election, and suggested Israelis might be kidnapped to exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spoke after a meeting with a Palestinian human rights activist and the Palestinian Authority official who is dealing with Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
"Our resistance is not going to stop, before the election, during the election or after the election — it will move forward until victory or martyrdom," Yassin said in response to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's call for and end to attacks in Israel in the run-up to the election.
"Our enemies will free our prisoners only by force, because they only understand the language of force," Yassin said after a meeting with human rights activist Raji Sourani and Hisham Abdel Razek, a cabinet minister in charge of Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
"From our experience with the enemy, all the prisoners released in the past were freed in exchange for prisoners and our prisoners in Israeli jails are now waiting for a new deal," Yassin said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
