news from isreal/palestine

Rocket retaliation for Gaza deaths
Palestinian militants have fired rockets on a southern
Israeli town in an apparent retaliation for an
overnight raid in Gaza City which left 11 Palestinians
dead.

At least three Qassam rockets were fired at Sderot,
one injuring a 35-year-old Israeli civilian.

The rocket attack was the first on Israeli territory
for about three weeks.

Correspondents say many Palestinians see recent
Israeli raids as a precursor to a full Israeli
takeover of Gaza - a move the Israeli defence minister
has said is being considered.

Frequent target

One of the rockets landed a metre from a factory
entrance in the town's industrial zone, wounding a
worker standing there, an Israeli official said.

He said the other rockets caused light property
damage.

The Sderot area, which is on the edge of Israel's
Negev desert, has been repeatedly hit by Qassam
rockets fired by members of the Islamic militant group
Hamas in a 29-month-old Palestinian uprising against
Israeli occupation.

But the attacks stopped in late January when
Palestinian police began to crack down on Qassam
squads whose actions had provoked punishing Israeli
army incursions.

Car blast

Violence also continued in the West Bank on Wednesday.

Two Palestinians were shot dead in Nablus, as Israeli
troops conducted house-to house searches and reimposed
a curfew in the city's old centre, Palestinian
witnesses said.

And in Jenin, a militant from the al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades was killed when his car blew up, Palestinian
security officials said.

Three other people were hurt in the blast, which the
officials blamed on the Israeli army.

The Israeli army said it launched the latest operation
in Gaza following the deaths of four soldiers, whose
tank was blown up by the Islamic militant group Hamas
on Saturday.

Metal workshops

The incursion involved at least 30 tanks, backed by
helicopters, sweeping into the Shajaiyeh and Tufah
districts - known strongholds of Palestinian militants
- after nightfall on Tuesday.

Up to four metal workshops - said by Israel to have
been used by Palestinians to manufacture rockets -
were destroyed by troops accompanied by bulldozers.

Hamas said one its members blew himself up in front of
a tank, but the Israeli army said the man probably
died when a shoulder-launched missile he was aiming at
the tank went off prematurely.

The Israeli army said its troops suffered no
casualties.

The incursion was the bloodiest since 12 Palestinians
died in an Israeli raid on Gaza City on 26 January.

Eight senior Hamas officials have died in Gaza since
Sunday, six of whom were killed in a blast and two
shot dead by Israeli forces.

The violence came after a day of talks in London where
mediators from the US, the European Union, Russia and
the UN met Israeli and Palestinian delegations to
discuss a "road map" for Middle East peace.

The UK has been pressing for quick progress on the
issue to send a signal to the Arab world that
international interest in Middle East peace talks was
not diminishing.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/2778583.stm

Published: 2003/02/19 15:43:37