Palestinian sources said Wednesday night that eight Palestians were injured as a result of Israeli warplanes and helicopters strikes on PA security targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The sources said that six were injured when Apache helicopters fired missiles at a Palestinian police headquarters in the West Bank city of Jenin.
Two were injured in the Gaza Strip, as F-16 warplanes also fired missiles at Palestinian police headquarters in Rafah and in Gaza City, Apache helicopter bombed a Force 17 outpost in Ansar-2.
The bombardments of Palestinian positions were among the heaviest since the outbreak of the Intifada in September 2000. These Israeli attacks, killing 19 Palestinians, came in reprisal for a lethal guerrilla attack on an Israeli army checkpoint near Ramallah on Tuesday night.
Most of the Palestinians killed Wednesday were security personnel, but at least four were identified as civilians.
An Israeli settler suffered light to moderate injuries in a shooting attack Wednesday evening in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian attackers opened fire from Khan Yunis.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would not lead Israel into war. "We are facing a very complicated problem. We need to deal with it without leading the country into war. I am against dragging Israelis into war," he told journalists after the security cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning.
Barghouti
In an official statement, the Palestinian leadership said that "the Palestinian people would continue their struggle, and their firm standing, until the departure of the Israeli occupation and settlements."
For his part, Marwan Barghouti, a senior leader of Palestinian president Yasser Arafat's Fatah-Tanzim said that ambushes on Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank were set to increase. Speaking to Reuters, Barghouti said Tuesday's assault on a checkpoint was part of a new strategy adopted by some factions.
"We are entering a new phase of struggle in the Intifada to concentrate on targeting Israeli checkpoints that are the symbol of Palestinian humiliation at the hands of occupation troops," Barghouti said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
