Israeli forces arrested a senior Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades activist and killed his assistant in the West Bank city of Qalqilyah early Thursday. In addition, the Israeli army arrested 15 Palestinians overnight in Tulkarem, Nablus, Qalqilyah and Ramallah.
On Wednesday night, four Israelis were lightly wounded when three anti-tank rockets landed in the central Gaza Strip settlement of Kfar Darom. The rockets were fired from the nearby Palestinian town of Dir al-Balah.
The Israeli army responded harshly to the attack, calling it a gross violation of the recent agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Additionally, an Israeli army bulldozer placed large cement blocks on the Salah al-Dein road, linking the northern and southern Gaza Strip towns together.
Dozens of Palestinian trucks and cars lined up on either side of the cement barrier. Palestinian witnesses said soldiers opened fire at one point, wounding two Palestinians. The occupation army reopened the road to Palestinian traffic early Thursday afternoon.
Israel has demanded that the Palestinian Authority arrest the gunners who fired the rockets, it was reported Thursday. On his part, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack and called it "terror," and Palestinian Minister of Security Affairs Mohammed Dahlan said the PA is seeking the members of the group responsible.
On Wednesday, Abbas warned that the three-month truce announced by armed groups Sunday would collapse if Israel failed to free a significant number of Palestinian prisoners.
"If we wait for three months without any release of the prisoners, the cease-fire will break down. If they assassinate anybody... it will collapse," Abbas told Reuters in an interview.
The prime minister also made a tough pledge to jail Palestinians who violate the truce, saying, "We will crack down on them."
"I think the Palestinian people will accept this because the Palestinian people accepted the truce and they are keen to keep it... So from now on anybody, any faction, any party which violates it - we will put them in prison." (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
