An Israeli soldier and a Palestinian militant were killed in a shootout early yesterday when Israeli troops raided a village near the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm hunting for militants, the army said.
The shootout came amid a marked increase in tension between the two sides in recent weeks, despite a three-month-old truce agreement that both sides hoped would signal the end of the four-and-a-half years of violence.
Residents of the Palestinian village of Sida said that Israeli troops had entered before dawn and imposed a curfew while they searched for suspects before withdrawing to the surrounding hills.
PHOTO: EPA
Sida was one of several villages Palestinian authorities wanted Israel to withdraw from when it handed over nearby Tulkarm to the Palestinian security forces in March.
Israel refused, saying that the villages were full of militants, including those who were behind a February suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed five Israelis.
Palestinians identified the dead man as Shafiq Abdel Hamad, an Islamic Jihad militant who had been on the run since escaping from Palestinian police custody several weeks ago.
On Sunday, Israeli troops briefly entered Tulkarm itself, arresting a man they said was an Islamic Jihad militant preparing to carry out an imminent suicide bombing.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the latest Israeli operations jeopardized the truce, which has slashed the number of deaths and injuries on both sides.
"The ceasefire can't be held by one side," Erekat said. "The continuation of Israeli incursions, assassinations and arrests is seriously threatening the ... understandings."
Violence has slowly increased in recent weeks, though it is still far lower than it was during the height of the fighting over the past four-and-a-half years.
Israelis have carried out several arrest raids, and Palestinian militants have fired salvos of mortar shells and rockets into Gaza Strip settlements.
Israel pledged to turn over five West Bank towns to Palestinian security control as part of the Feb. 8 ceasefire agreement, but only Tulkarm and Jericho have been transferred.
The Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said last week that he was putting further handovers on hold until the Palestinian Authority disarmed militants in the two towns that they already control.
Israel has demanded Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas crack down on militant groups to prevent attacks on Israel. Abbas has said he preferred to use persuasion to maintain calm.
However, Abbas took a firmer tone last week, warning militants that he would use force against anyone who violated the truce.
His comments appeared aimed at the militants firing mortar and rocket barrages at Gaza settlements in recent weeks in an effort to make it appear that they are pushing Israel out of the volatile coastal strip.
Israel plans to pull out of Gaza and four West Bank settlements this summer.
Israeli military planners said recently they are proposing that the abandoned West Bank homes be turned over to Palestinian security forces for use as barracks, although the area to be vacated will remain under overall Israeli military control, security officials said.
DISASTER: The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded a magnitude 5.7 and tremors reached as far as Kolkata, India, more than 300km away from the epicenter A powerful earthquake struck Bangladesh yesterday outside the crowded capital, Dhaka, killing at least five people and injuring about a hundred, the government said. The magnitude 5.5 quake struck at 10:38am near Narsingdi, Bangladesh, about 33km from Dhaka, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The earthquake sparked fear and chaos with many in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people at home on their day off. AFP reporters in Dhaka said they saw people weeping in the streets while others appeared shocked. Bangladesh Interim Leader Muhammad Yunus expressed his “deep shock and sorrow over the news of casualties in various districts.” At least five people,
LEFT AND RIGHT: Battling anti-incumbent, anticommunist sentiment, Jeanette Jara had a precarious lead over far-right Jose Antonio Kast as they look to the Dec. 14 run Leftist candidate Jeannette Jara and far-right leader Jose Antonio Kast are to go head-to-head in Chile’s presidential runoff after topping Sunday’s first round of voting in an election dominated by fears of violent crime. With 99 percent of the results counted, Jara, a 51-year-old communist running on behalf of an eight-party coalition, won 26.85 percent, compared with 23.93 percent for Kast, the Servel electoral service said. The election was dominated by deep concern over a surge in murders, kidnappings and extortion widely blamed on foreign crime gangs. Kast, 59, has vowed to build walls, fences and trenches along Chile’s border with Bolivia to
DEATH SENTENCE: The ousted leader said she was willing to attend a fresh trial outside Bangladesh where the ruling would not be a ‘foregone conclusion’ Bangladesh’s fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday called the guilty verdict and death sentence in her crimes against humanity trial “biased and politically motivated.” Hasina, 78, defied court orders that she return from India to attend her trial about whether she ordered a deadly crackdown against the student-led uprising that ousted her. She was found guilty and sentenced to death earlier yesterday. “The verdicts announced against me have been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate,” Hasina said in a statement issued from hiding in India. “They are biased and politically motivated,” she
It is one of the world’s most famous unsolved codes whose answer could sell for a fortune — but two US friends say they have already found the secret hidden by Kryptos. The S-shaped copper sculpture has baffled cryptography enthusiasts since its 1990 installation on the grounds of the CIA headquarters in Virginia, with three of its four messages deciphered so far. Yet K4, the final passage, has kept codebreakers scratching their heads. Sculptor Jim Sanborn, 80, has been so overwhelmed by guesses that he started charging US$50 for each response. Sanborn in August announced he would auction the 97-character solution to K4
RSS