An Israeli soldier throws tear gas at a crowd of demonstrators near a Palestine area. (AP Photo)

Israeli Troops Sweep Gaza Towns

December 15, 2001, 03:30 PM

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By Ibrahim Barzak, AP Staff

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israeli troops searching for militants flattened houses and security buildings Saturday and temporarily took over part of a Palestinian town in the northern Gaza Strip. Overall, six Palestinians were killed, more than 50 were hurt and 15 were arrested, officials said.

The temporary takeover was aimed at restraining Palestinian militants in Gaza who had been firing mortars at Israeli targets. But shortly after the Israelis pulled out of the town of Beit Hanoun on Saturday night, Palestinian mortar fire resumed, the army said.

Israel sent helicopters into the area early Sunday, firing several rockets and damaging at least two Palestinian police offices near Beit Hanoun. The buildings had been evacuated and no injuries were reported.

Israeli tanks and bulldozers also took up positions around the Palestinian town of Tamun and two other nearby villages north of the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinians said. The army said it was carrying out operations in the area in order to block the path of Palestinian militants into Israel.

Saying Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has failed to act against militants, Israel has been moving deep into Palestinian areas in recent days. No Israeli soldiers were reported wounded.

Also Saturday, the State Department said U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni, who has tried unsuccessfully to broker a truce for three weeks, would return to Washington for consultations.

At the United Nations, the United States vetoed a Palestinian-backed Security Council resolution that condemned terror acts on both sides and called for a Mideast truce overseen by international monitors. The Americans said the measure was aimed at isolating Israel politically.

Hanan Ashrawi, a prominent Palestinian spokeswoman, said the U.S. veto gave Israel "a free hand to attack Palestinians -- defenseless, captive, besieged Palestinians."

"And at the same time, (the Americans) are closing off any other possible avenue," she said.

The Israelis described Beit Hanoun, at the edge of Israel's own territory, as a stronghold for militants. As the Israeli armor moved in, soldiers with loudspeakers announced that the town was under curfew.

Hundreds of Palestinian youths threw stones at the advancing Israeli forces and set tires ablaze. The confrontations quickly escalated into shooting exchanges between Palestinian security forces and Israeli troops.

Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire, including a 12-year-old boy and a police officer, according to witnesses and Shifa Hospital officials in nearby Gaza City.

Overall, more than 50 Palestinians were injured, doctors said. The Israeli military said 15 Palestinians were arrested.

The Israelis demolished five houses, three security offices and a headquarters of Arafat's Fatah movement. One of the houses belonged to Salah Shahed, the founder of the armed wing of the militant group Hamas, but witnesses said he was not in the area at the time.

Israeli forces moved onto the grounds of the Beit Hanoun Secondary Girls' School, briefly putting up tents in the yard and raising an Israeli flag atop one building, witnesses added.

"We did not carry out this operation thinking it will put a complete stop to terror, but it definitely damaged the effectiveness," said Brig. Gen. Israel Ziv, the Israeli commander for Gaza. If the Palestinian Authority does not wage an "obvious fight against terror, we will have no choice but to continue these operations."

An explosion near the border between Israel and the West Bank town of Tulkarem killed one Palestinian on Saturday night, the army said. The army said the explosion apparently was caused by a Palestinian suicide bomber whose charge exploded prematurely as he tried to enter Israel. The man was a member of the militant Islamic Jihad group, Palestinians said.

At the southern end of Gaza, a Palestinian militant carrying grenades attempted to cut a fence and enter the Jewish settlement of Gush Katif but was shot dead by the Israeli military, the army said.

Afterward, Israeli tanks moved several hundred yards into Palestinian territory on the fringes of nearby Rafah, Palestinians said.

Palestinian security forces in Gaza said they shut down 13 offices belonging to the Hamas and Islamic Jihad, including two newspaper offices. Israel has demanded that Arafat move against the groups, which have carried out repeated suicide bombings.

Israel's military also carried out wide-ranging arrest sweeps Friday in the West Bank and Gaza in which eight Palestinians were killed and about 50 were arrested. A day earlier, it had announced it was severing all ties with Arafat, a reaction to a Hamas ambush of an Israeli bus that killed 10 Israelis.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who opposed breaking off ties with Arafat, said Saturday it would be "impossible by military means to solve the conflict."

But he stressed that Arafat had to do more to halt the Palestinian attacks. "Arafat will be relevant when he begins to fight against terror," Peres told Israeli television.

In Ramallah, about 500 supporters of Arafat's Fatah party marched through the streets waving Palestinian flags and Arafat posters and chanting: "End the occupation" and "Load your guns and keep your fingers on the trigger." Some masked men carried weapons and children beat drums.

The relentless violence has undermined Zinni's efforts to negotiate a cease-fire to end nearly 15 months of fighting.

He and William Burns, the assistant secretary of state for the Middle East, met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday before being called back to Washington. Neither spoke to reporters as they left the presidential palace in Cairo.

Later Saturday, Burns said he and Zinni would discuss their next steps with President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

"But the one thing I am certain of is that we are going to remain very actively engaged in this issue and continue to do everything we can to help, especially to help the parties to move away from violence and back in the direction of a political process," Burns told reporters.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)