Israeli army and security forces are on high alert Tuesday following Israeli warnings of “Palestinian intentions to carry out terror attacks” to mark the May 15 anniversary of the Nakba.
Nakba Day marks the 1948 events when 700,000 Palestinians became refugees in the Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel's creation.
The number of refugees has since swelled to about 4 million people in camps in the West Bank, Gaza and neighboring Arab states, where demonstrations were also planned.
Israel braced for new battles on Tuesday, concerned that the most emotionally charged day of the Palestinian calendar could spawn heavier fighting in a nearly eight-month-old revolt for statehood in the West Bank and Gaza.
"Most of our intelligence reports indicate that the Palestinians are preparing more violent activities and not just peaceful demonstrations as they claim," said Raanan Gissin, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"We want to stop this violence and I think if the Palestinians take that action and cease the tone of hostilities maybe the Nakba...can serve as a starting point to return back to the negotiating table," Gissin told Reuters.
Israeli security sources said there was “intelligence evidence that PA security men and Fateh would encourage violent activities to coincide with the Nakba Day observances,” reported Haaretz.
The sources said there were “concrete security warnings relate of plans for terror attacks in the West Bank and Gaza, and mass demonstrations aimed at fostering conflict between civilian demonstrators and Israeli security forces.”
Meanwhile, Israeli security sources said that Arafat left for Egypt Tuesday morning to “avoid being in the area when the violence escalates,” said the paper, citing Israel Radio.
In another development, Israeli Arabs, for the first time, have been asked to observe a minute of silence at 12 noon to mourn Palestinian casualties, said the paper.
In addition to issuing the call for a minute of silence, the Supreme Arab Monitoring Committee, an umbrella organization of Israeli Arab political and non-partisan groups, has urged Israeli Arabs to stage protest vigils this afternoon on major roads that pass by Arab towns and villages.
The committee's spokesman stressed “it is sending officials to sites of these demonstrations to block potentially inflammatory contents of slogans and placards.”
"We want a quiet protest, and we will do our utmost to prevent violence," the spokesman said.
Israeli Arab activists and Palestinian public figures from the West Bank intend to demonstrate at the A-Ram junction, a site north of Jerusalem which separates areas under Israeli sovereignty and Palestinian Authority control. Arab MKs are expected to take part in the A-Ram rally, said the paper.
US CALLS RECENT 'FLARE-UP' DISTURBING
Israeli troops killed seven Palestinians including five paramilitary policemen on Monday in what the United States called a "very disturbing" flare-up.
The killing of the police in the West Bank was the highest death toll in a single incident for almost two months and elicited harsh words from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who called it "dirty and immoral".
"Israel must know that it will be harshly judged over this crime," Arafat told reporters.
In Beit Jala in the West Bank, the town came under heavy Israeli fire after four Israelis from the nearby Gilo Jewish settlement were reportedly injured when Palestinian gunmen attacked the neighborhood.
Earlier, a Palestinian 11-year-old boy in Rafah was seriously injured when a 500mm projectile hit him in the abdomen.
The Palestinian news agency, WAFA, identified the injured boy as Ziad Majdi Shaath, adding that he was shot during an Israeli shelling with heavy weapons and machineguns of As Salam neighborhood in the city. Medical sources told the agency that the child was “in a very serious condition.” – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
