Palestinian sources said Tuesday evening that israeli tanks had moved into the West Bank town of Jenin. According to Palestinian eyewitnesses, twelve tanks entered the city and a large number of troops were stationed outside of the city.
Israel said that a suicide bomber was killed Tuesday evening in Baka al-Sharkiya, north of the West Bank town of Tulkarem.
The Israeli side claimed that the bomber approached an Israeli checkpoint and that soldiers called on him to halt, and when he did not comply, they fired several shots. After the soldiers fired, the man proceeded to detonate the explosive device that he had strapped on his body.
In a separate incident Tuesday, an armed Palestinian was seen crossing the border into Israel from the northern Gaza Strip. Israeli soldiers shot and killed him.
Rajoub
Meanwhile, Muhammad Rashid, an advisor to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, claimed Tuesday that West Bank Preventive Security Chief Jibril Rajoub had violated orders when activists in his Beitunia headquarters surrendered to Israeli troops.
According to Israeli claims, 200 Palestinian activists holed up in Rajoub's Beitunia headquarters surrendered to Israeli troops, among them women and children, as was agreed by the two sides. The Israeli army said that a number of the Palestinians have been released and that others had been arrested for further investigation.
Israel believed that about fifteen armed Palestinians, some of them wanted by Israel, remain within Rajoub's headquarters, which are surrounded by Israeli troops.
Bethlehem
Gun battles took place throughout the day Tuesday in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. At least seven Palestinians were killed. According to initial reports, one of the operatives killed was Yehi Dehamshe, a leading Fatah explosives expert.
The Russian Orthodox Church sent an angry message to Israel demanding an immediate withdrawal from a Russian church building it said Israeli troops had occupied in the Bethlehem battles, Reuters reported.
EU
European Union president Spain summoned the Israeli ambassador to Madrid to demand that Israel quit Palestinian cities, in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted Saturday, and restore Arafat's freedom of movement.
Spain later called a rare emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers for Wednesday to discuss the Middle East crisis. A spokesman said the meeting would be in Brussels or Luxembourg.
"We cannot confuse the fight against terrorism with the destruction of the Palestinian Authority," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told Reuters in Madrid. "The solution to the conflict is not a military solution," he declared.
Jordan
Elsewhere in Jordan, thousands took to the streets of Amman on Tuesday to demand that relations with Israel be severed, piling pressure on the government to take firm action in protest against Israeli attacks on Palestinians.
Jordanian officials said the authorities were considering expelling Israel’s ambassador David Dadon but have ruled out cutting diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.
An official said Jordan's King Abdullah would meet President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
