4 Narratives on Nablus: BBC, Aljazeera, Haaretz, Jerusalem Post
[The Israelis have been carrying out some raids these past two days on Nablus, the second largest West Bank Palestinian city, in pursuit of terrorists and weapons. At least one innocent Palestinian has been killed and his son wounded. The accounts of his killing were quite different as reported in Haaretz and the Post the other day, with the latter placing him in a more suspicious context.
Today's accounts of the events in Nablus vary considerably with the BBC and Aljazeera probably drawing on a neutral sources, possible the AP, and the two Israeli papers focused on an Israeli death there.
I guess one has to expect contrasting views of events when people are locked in a No Exit combat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Exit
No Exit was Sartre's play which depicted characters trapped in their own company, eliciting Sartre's dictum that "Hell is other people." And so it goes on and on in Israel Palestine. Ed Kent]
.................................................
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6407295.stm
Israelis in fresh West Bank raids
Troops detained wanted militants in Nablus and their relatives
Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank have pushed on with their search for militants, trading gunfire with armed Palestinians.
On the fifth day of operations in and around Nablus, the Israelis stormed a block of flats and surrounded a mosque.
Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniya has said Israel is trying to undermine a recent unity agreement between Palestinian factions.
On Wednesday, Israeli troops killed three militants in a raid in Jenin.
Israel alleged that one of the men, all members of the Islamic Jihad group, was responsible for a failed suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv last week.
The army says it has arrested 10 wanted militants in Nablus. One Palestinian civilian has been killed.
Mosque battle
The Israeli sweep through Nablus is the largest West Bank operation since July.
Troops exchanged fire with militants holed up in a mosque in the outlying Faraa refugee camp.
Other units regrouped around a residential building, surrounding it with jeeps and armoured vehicles. They used loudspeakers to tell inhabitants to leave and several wanted men, who they said were present, to surrender.
After civilians poured out, Israeli soldiers rushed through the entrance and explosions were heard inside.
Local security sources say about 20 Palestinians, including many relatives of members of armed groups, were detained for questioning on Wednesday.
Nablus is the West Bank's second largest city and formerly a commercial hub, although more than six years of Israeli blockades and raids have destroyed much of its economic potential.
Israel says it is a militant stronghold and the source of many of the successful and attempted suicide bombings it has been subjected to.
The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is home to about 2.5 million Palestinians, land occupied by Israel during the 1967 war.
There are also more than 100 Israel settlements housing about 400,000 Jews.
.........................
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0A29622F-0D65-4D04-9FFF-A8CC96E9FCE4.htm
Israeli army continues Nablus raids
Three Palestinian fighters were killed by Israeli
undercover unit on Wednesday in Jenin [AFP]
Israeli troops are pushing ahead with a hunt for Palestinian fighters in and around the West Bank city of Nablus, trading gunfire with armed men in a mosque and storming an apartment building where fighters were thought to be hiding.
Thursday was the fifth day of the Nablus sweep, the Israeli army's largest West Bank operation since July.
The army, which claims to have uncovered three explosives labs in the city this week, says most suicide bombers who have attacked over the past year came from Nablus, a resistance stronghold.
Troops raiding the outlying al-Fara'a refugee camp exchanged fire with three fighters holed up in a camp mosque at dawn, the Israeli army and Palestinian officials said on Thursday.
The army said the three men opened fire at troops from inside the mosque, and that soldiers returned fire.
People confined
Inside Nablus, Israeli soldiers left the narrow stone alleyways of the old town, where the operation had centred since it began on Sunday, lifting a curfew that confined tens of thousands of Palestinians to their homes.
After civilians poured out, soldiers rushed through the entrance and explosions were heard inside, but it was not immediately clear whether armed men were holed up there.
The Israeli army said it has arrested 10 wanted fighters since the operation began. One Palestinian civilian has been killed.
In another development on Thursday, Palestinian fighters shot and wounded an Israeli settler driving through the occupied West Bank, medical sources said.
The 55-year-old man from Tzofim settlement near the West Bank town of Qalqilya was "evacuated to hospital with light to moderate wounds", Yerucham Mandola, a Magen David Adom rescue services spokesman, said.
The Israeli army said it was searching for the assailants.
Wednesday's killings
On Wednesday, Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinian fighters in Jenin.
An undercover military unit killed Ashraf al-Saadi, leader of al-Quds Brigades in the West Bank, and two other activists in Jenin, Al Jazeera's correspondent said.
Al-Quds Brigades is the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.
Later, Abu Ahmad, an Islamic Jihad spokesman, said from Gaza that the group would retaliate for the killings.
Israeli reservations
Meanwhile, Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, has said Israel cannot accept an Arab peace initiative as it stands, according to an interview published in a Palestinian daily on Thursday.
Thousands are confined to their homes as Israel
strikes Nablus's "terrorist infrastructure" [AFP]
She told Al-Ayyam that Arab countries had introduced new clauses to the Saudi peace initiative on the fate of Palestinian refugees making it "impossible to accept in its current form".
Under the plan, adopted by the Arab League at a summit in 2002, the Arab world would normalise ties with Israel in exchange for a full withdrawal from Arab land occupied since 1967 and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Livni said: "The idea of establishing full diplomatic relations between Israel and the Arab countries is part of our ambitions ... I think we have a common objective and that our differences are lessening."
"The Saudi initiative was initially a positive sign but since the hardliners in Beirut added points going against a solution based on two states, it has become unacceptable to us in its current form."
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
..............................
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/832150.html
Last update - 16:05 01/03/2007
Israeli moderately wounded in northern West Bank shooting attack
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
An Israeli civilian sustained moderate wounds Thursday in a shooting attack in the northern West Bank.
The man was shot at a checkpoint north of Qalqilyah, and sustained wounds to his hand and chest.
Earlier Thursday morning, Israel Defense Forces snipers wounded an armed Palestinian in the Fara'a refugee camp, northeast of the West Bank city of Nablus.
Three wanted Islamic Jihad militants were arrested in the operation, conducted by an ultra-Orthodox unit of the Nahal brigade.
Militants set off an explosives device and fired at troops operating in the city, Army Radio reported. There were no casualties in the incident.
Meanwhile, a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed Thursday morning in the western Negev, north of the Strip. No injuried were reported, but a greenhouse was damaged.
The incident in the refugee camp occurred after snipers identified three Palestinians, who according to the IDF were armed, standing on the roof of a mosque in the camp. The snipers opened fire, hitting one of them.
IDF troops pushed ahead Thursday morning with a hunt for militants in Nablus, surrounding a building with jeeps and armored vehicles and using loudspeakers to call on wanted men to turn themselves in.
It was the fifth day of the sweep through Nablus, the army's largest West Bank operation since July. The army says most of the suicide bombers involved in attacks over the past year came from the city, known as a militant stronghold.
Early Thursday, soldiers left the narrow stone alleyways of the casbah, or old city, lifting a curfew that confined tens of thousands of people to their homes.
The forces regrouped around an apartment building in one of the city's newer neighborhoods, emptying the building of civilians and demanding the surrender of wanted militants inside.
No violence was reported.
The army said troops have uncovered three explosives labs and arrested ten wanted militants since the operation began on Sunday. Dozens of Nablus residents have been detained for questioning.
Early Thursday, the army released 47 people who were taken for questioning at a roadblock outside Nablus, municipal officials said.
One Palestinian civilian has been killed since the operation began, and one soldier was seriously wounded by a bomb. Palestinian officials said 10 people were wounded in clashes between troops and youths throwing stones.
In the nearby West Bank town of Jenin on Wednesday, undercover troops in a black car opened fire on a vehicle carrying three Islamic Jihad gunmen, killing them. The army said the men were involved in planning an attempted suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that was thwarted last week.
Five Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in Israel on Wednesday, causing no injuries or damage.
..............................
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894545328&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Mar. 1, 2007 8:35 | Updated Mar. 1, 2007 16:02
Israeli shot, wounded near Kalkilya
By JPOST STAFF AND AP
A Jewish settler from Tzufim, which overlooks the Palestinian city of Kalkilya in the West Bank, was shot and moderately wounded Thursday afternoon by Palestinian gunmen.
The man, a 55-year-old farmer, sustained wounds to his shoulder. He was evacuated to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba for treatment.
The gunmen opened fire on him from their vehicle and immediately fled the scene. Police said they believed the motivation for the attack was terror-related.
Also in the West Bank, Palestinians threw bombs and opened fire at IDF troops operating in Nablus Thursday morning as troops pushed ahead with a hunt for Palestinian fugitives. The soldiers returned fire, and none were reported wounded.
Early Thursday, soldiers left Nablus's old city, lifting a curfew that had confined tens of thousands of people to their homes.
The troops regrouped around an apartment building in one of the city's newer neighborhoods, emptying the building of civilians and demanding the surrender of fugitives inside.
After using loudspeakers to call for the fugitives hiding inside to turn themselves in, the troops opened fire. The army said that one of the men had been hit.
During the morning's operations, three Islamic Jihad fugitives were arrested and transferred to the Shin Bet for interrogation.
Overnight Wednesday, the IDF arrested 19 terror suspects throughout the West Bank. In Nablus five suspects were arrested, including three Fatah operatives and a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP(
In Kalkilya, the soldiers nabbed four Hamas operatives, and four others were arrested in Hebron. Two Tanzim operatives and a member of Islamic Jihad were detained in Tulkarm. The remaining three terror suspects were arrested in Ramallah and Jenin.
During the mission, a grenade was thrown at IDF soldiers, but no casualties or damage were reported.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
Today's accounts of the events in Nablus vary considerably with the BBC and Aljazeera probably drawing on a neutral sources, possible the AP, and the two Israeli papers focused on an Israeli death there.
I guess one has to expect contrasting views of events when people are locked in a No Exit combat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Exit
No Exit was Sartre's play which depicted characters trapped in their own company, eliciting Sartre's dictum that "Hell is other people." And so it goes on and on in Israel Palestine. Ed Kent]
.................................................
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6407295.stm
Israelis in fresh West Bank raids
Troops detained wanted militants in Nablus and their relatives
Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank have pushed on with their search for militants, trading gunfire with armed Palestinians.
On the fifth day of operations in and around Nablus, the Israelis stormed a block of flats and surrounded a mosque.
Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ismail Haniya has said Israel is trying to undermine a recent unity agreement between Palestinian factions.
On Wednesday, Israeli troops killed three militants in a raid in Jenin.
Israel alleged that one of the men, all members of the Islamic Jihad group, was responsible for a failed suicide bomb attack in Tel Aviv last week.
The army says it has arrested 10 wanted militants in Nablus. One Palestinian civilian has been killed.
Mosque battle
The Israeli sweep through Nablus is the largest West Bank operation since July.
Troops exchanged fire with militants holed up in a mosque in the outlying Faraa refugee camp.
Other units regrouped around a residential building, surrounding it with jeeps and armoured vehicles. They used loudspeakers to tell inhabitants to leave and several wanted men, who they said were present, to surrender.
After civilians poured out, Israeli soldiers rushed through the entrance and explosions were heard inside.
Local security sources say about 20 Palestinians, including many relatives of members of armed groups, were detained for questioning on Wednesday.
Nablus is the West Bank's second largest city and formerly a commercial hub, although more than six years of Israeli blockades and raids have destroyed much of its economic potential.
Israel says it is a militant stronghold and the source of many of the successful and attempted suicide bombings it has been subjected to.
The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is home to about 2.5 million Palestinians, land occupied by Israel during the 1967 war.
There are also more than 100 Israel settlements housing about 400,000 Jews.
.........................
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0A29622F-0D65-4D04-9FFF-A8CC96E9FCE4.htm
Israeli army continues Nablus raids
Three Palestinian fighters were killed by Israeli
undercover unit on Wednesday in Jenin [AFP]
Israeli troops are pushing ahead with a hunt for Palestinian fighters in and around the West Bank city of Nablus, trading gunfire with armed men in a mosque and storming an apartment building where fighters were thought to be hiding.
Thursday was the fifth day of the Nablus sweep, the Israeli army's largest West Bank operation since July.
The army, which claims to have uncovered three explosives labs in the city this week, says most suicide bombers who have attacked over the past year came from Nablus, a resistance stronghold.
Troops raiding the outlying al-Fara'a refugee camp exchanged fire with three fighters holed up in a camp mosque at dawn, the Israeli army and Palestinian officials said on Thursday.
The army said the three men opened fire at troops from inside the mosque, and that soldiers returned fire.
People confined
Inside Nablus, Israeli soldiers left the narrow stone alleyways of the old town, where the operation had centred since it began on Sunday, lifting a curfew that confined tens of thousands of Palestinians to their homes.
After civilians poured out, soldiers rushed through the entrance and explosions were heard inside, but it was not immediately clear whether armed men were holed up there.
The Israeli army said it has arrested 10 wanted fighters since the operation began. One Palestinian civilian has been killed.
In another development on Thursday, Palestinian fighters shot and wounded an Israeli settler driving through the occupied West Bank, medical sources said.
The 55-year-old man from Tzofim settlement near the West Bank town of Qalqilya was "evacuated to hospital with light to moderate wounds", Yerucham Mandola, a Magen David Adom rescue services spokesman, said.
The Israeli army said it was searching for the assailants.
Wednesday's killings
On Wednesday, Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinian fighters in Jenin.
An undercover military unit killed Ashraf al-Saadi, leader of al-Quds Brigades in the West Bank, and two other activists in Jenin, Al Jazeera's correspondent said.
Al-Quds Brigades is the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement.
Later, Abu Ahmad, an Islamic Jihad spokesman, said from Gaza that the group would retaliate for the killings.
Israeli reservations
Meanwhile, Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, has said Israel cannot accept an Arab peace initiative as it stands, according to an interview published in a Palestinian daily on Thursday.
Thousands are confined to their homes as Israel
strikes Nablus's "terrorist infrastructure" [AFP]
She told Al-Ayyam that Arab countries had introduced new clauses to the Saudi peace initiative on the fate of Palestinian refugees making it "impossible to accept in its current form".
Under the plan, adopted by the Arab League at a summit in 2002, the Arab world would normalise ties with Israel in exchange for a full withdrawal from Arab land occupied since 1967 and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Livni said: "The idea of establishing full diplomatic relations between Israel and the Arab countries is part of our ambitions ... I think we have a common objective and that our differences are lessening."
"The Saudi initiative was initially a positive sign but since the hardliners in Beirut added points going against a solution based on two states, it has become unacceptable to us in its current form."
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
..............................
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/832150.html
Last update - 16:05 01/03/2007
Israeli moderately wounded in northern West Bank shooting attack
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
An Israeli civilian sustained moderate wounds Thursday in a shooting attack in the northern West Bank.
The man was shot at a checkpoint north of Qalqilyah, and sustained wounds to his hand and chest.
Earlier Thursday morning, Israel Defense Forces snipers wounded an armed Palestinian in the Fara'a refugee camp, northeast of the West Bank city of Nablus.
Three wanted Islamic Jihad militants were arrested in the operation, conducted by an ultra-Orthodox unit of the Nahal brigade.
Militants set off an explosives device and fired at troops operating in the city, Army Radio reported. There were no casualties in the incident.
Meanwhile, a Qassam rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed Thursday morning in the western Negev, north of the Strip. No injuried were reported, but a greenhouse was damaged.
The incident in the refugee camp occurred after snipers identified three Palestinians, who according to the IDF were armed, standing on the roof of a mosque in the camp. The snipers opened fire, hitting one of them.
IDF troops pushed ahead Thursday morning with a hunt for militants in Nablus, surrounding a building with jeeps and armored vehicles and using loudspeakers to call on wanted men to turn themselves in.
It was the fifth day of the sweep through Nablus, the army's largest West Bank operation since July. The army says most of the suicide bombers involved in attacks over the past year came from the city, known as a militant stronghold.
Early Thursday, soldiers left the narrow stone alleyways of the casbah, or old city, lifting a curfew that confined tens of thousands of people to their homes.
The forces regrouped around an apartment building in one of the city's newer neighborhoods, emptying the building of civilians and demanding the surrender of wanted militants inside.
No violence was reported.
The army said troops have uncovered three explosives labs and arrested ten wanted militants since the operation began on Sunday. Dozens of Nablus residents have been detained for questioning.
Early Thursday, the army released 47 people who were taken for questioning at a roadblock outside Nablus, municipal officials said.
One Palestinian civilian has been killed since the operation began, and one soldier was seriously wounded by a bomb. Palestinian officials said 10 people were wounded in clashes between troops and youths throwing stones.
In the nearby West Bank town of Jenin on Wednesday, undercover troops in a black car opened fire on a vehicle carrying three Islamic Jihad gunmen, killing them. The army said the men were involved in planning an attempted suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that was thwarted last week.
Five Qassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in Israel on Wednesday, causing no injuries or damage.
..............................
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894545328&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Mar. 1, 2007 8:35 | Updated Mar. 1, 2007 16:02
Israeli shot, wounded near Kalkilya
By JPOST STAFF AND AP
A Jewish settler from Tzufim, which overlooks the Palestinian city of Kalkilya in the West Bank, was shot and moderately wounded Thursday afternoon by Palestinian gunmen.
The man, a 55-year-old farmer, sustained wounds to his shoulder. He was evacuated to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba for treatment.
The gunmen opened fire on him from their vehicle and immediately fled the scene. Police said they believed the motivation for the attack was terror-related.
Also in the West Bank, Palestinians threw bombs and opened fire at IDF troops operating in Nablus Thursday morning as troops pushed ahead with a hunt for Palestinian fugitives. The soldiers returned fire, and none were reported wounded.
Early Thursday, soldiers left Nablus's old city, lifting a curfew that had confined tens of thousands of people to their homes.
The troops regrouped around an apartment building in one of the city's newer neighborhoods, emptying the building of civilians and demanding the surrender of fugitives inside.
After using loudspeakers to call for the fugitives hiding inside to turn themselves in, the troops opened fire. The army said that one of the men had been hit.
During the morning's operations, three Islamic Jihad fugitives were arrested and transferred to the Shin Bet for interrogation.
Overnight Wednesday, the IDF arrested 19 terror suspects throughout the West Bank. In Nablus five suspects were arrested, including three Fatah operatives and a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP(
In Kalkilya, the soldiers nabbed four Hamas operatives, and four others were arrested in Hebron. Two Tanzim operatives and a member of Islamic Jihad were detained in Tulkarm. The remaining three terror suspects were arrested in Ramallah and Jenin.
During the mission, a grenade was thrown at IDF soldiers, but no casualties or damage were reported.
--
"A war is just if there is no alternative, and the resort to arms is legitimate if they represent your last hope." (Livy cited by Machiavelli)
--
Ed Kent 718-951-5324 (voice mail only) [blind copies]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollegeConversation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PeaceEfforts
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EndingPoverty
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/440neighborhood
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StudentConcerns
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AcademicFreedom
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PrivacyRights
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Israel_Palestine
http://BlogByEdKent.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloggernews.net
posted by Ed Kent at 10:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home