The Israeli army razed three Palestinian houses Saturday afternoon near the town of Deir El Ballah in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian residents and security sources said.
This action came after Israeli army tanks, armored vehicles and infantry troops entered the Palestinian-controlled area of Deir El Ballah which is located near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom. The residents said during the Israeli army incursion into the area, Israeli troops fired intensive gunshots from heavy machine guns.
The Israeli army said the demolition was carried out because the houses provided cover for Palestinian gunmen and a lookout for those who are planning infiltrations into the nearby settlement.
The incursion and the demolition came one day after three members of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades tried to infiltrate into Kfar Darom, according to the Israeli army allegations. Two of them were killed and one managed to escape.
Palestinian security officials and medical sources charged that the Israeli soldiers captured one of the two Palestinians alive and then forced him to sit on his knees, and shot him dead in the head.
On Saturday, about 300 demonstrators from the Ta'ayush movement entered the West Bank town of Hawara near Nablus. One demonstrator was arrested by Israeli police while another was injured. The demonstrators had tried to enter Nablus, but soldiers prevented them from entering.
Palestinian witnesses said that an Israeli tank opened fire on stone throwers in the West Bank town of Nablus on Saturday, injuring six people. The army said a patrol was shot at in Nablus and fired a tank shell at the source in return.
Earlier Saturday, Israeli forces entered a Palestinian police station in the West Bank town of Hebron and arrested a man, witnesses said.
On Friday evening, an Israeli soldier was lightly wounded by shots fired by Palestinians in the vicinity of the West Bank settlement of Itamar, near Nablus, Israel Radio reported. Shots were also fired Friday night at an Israeli outpost adjacent to the settlement of Gadid, in the Gaza Strip.
Al Aqsa mosque
40,000 Israeli Arabs turned up at Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque on Saturday for a festival organized by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, Israel Radio reported. Most of those who took part were youths.
The festival was the largest such event arranged by the northern branch of the Movement since November 2001, when an 'Al Aqsa is in danger' rally was held in Umm al-Fahm.
Keynote speeches were delivered by the head of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, Jerusalem mufti Sheikh Ikrimah Sabri, and Kamel Khatib, deputy leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement.
Some 600 buses carried the participant to Saturday's festivities, where heads of the Islamic Movement announced the winners of the Koran quiz and the names of the children who have contributed most to the mosque.
Elections
Meanwhile, the Palestinians have rejected a U.S. proposal to have their parliament choose a prime minister who could balance the power of Yasser Arafat — and an official said Friday that sharp disagreements with Washington could jeopardize Palestinian elections scheduled for January.
Washington has been seeking to sideline Arafat while calling for elections as part of attempts to persuade the Palestinian Authority to undertake sweeping reforms.
As an alternative to the 73-year-old leader, Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice — in a meeting in Washington with Palestinian officials two weeks ago — proposed that the Palestinian parliament choose a prime minister, said Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat.
In a report Friday to an international task force in Paris on Palestinian reform, the Palestinian Authority said it would not agree to changes in the electoral system used by Palestinians in 1996 to confirm Arafat as leader.
"We told them (the United States) that this is not your business," Erekat said. "We were shocked during the discussions that the American side is speaking about changing the law of elections."
The United States, he said, is trying to delay the balloting.
Raanan Gissin, adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon confirmed the United States proposed a parliament-chosen prime minister as a way of sidestepping Arafat. "They (the Palestinians) rejected that," Gissin told AP. "The election as proposed in its current state will only ensure that the same people and the same reign of terror will be re-established." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
