Israeli forces occupy more territories: Palestinian minister arrested
TEL AVIV, April 13: Israeli tanks rolled into more Palestinian villages and shelled a government building in Nablus on Saturday despite visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s calls for a ceasefire.
Palestinian security sources said dozens of Israeli tanks entered Tanrabeh, Tahmeh, Al-Arka, Al-Farah, Kafr al-Khut, Al-Hashmiyeh and Amun villages during the day.
Israeli soldiers searched several houses in these villages, all near Jenin, where a week-long battle at a Palestinian refugee camp saw the worst massacre of Palestinians since the Jewish state launched its offensive on March 29.
Israeli tanks also shelled the government building of Nablus, the main city of the northern West Bank, witnesses said.
The army encircled the building, calling on the people inside to surrender.
It was unclear whether the governor himself was inside the building during the shelling, and there were no initial reports of casualties.
Near Al Khalil, to the south, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian man.
Iskandar Shahada, 55, was shot dead as he was perched on his roof, watching the army pull out, the sources said.
And in the town of Ramallah, where Palestinian leader is besieged in his offices, Israeli troops ransacked a cultural centre in an apparent search for documents, witnesses said.
Housed in an old Palestinian mansion, it was a meeting place for intellectuals and the venue for frequent seminars and conferences.
ARAFAT CONDEMNS BOMBING: Palestinian President Yasser Arafat issued a statement on Saturday condemning the previous day’s suicide bombing in occupied Al Quds that killed six people. But Israel rejected the statement, saying it wanted action, not words.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell had called off a meeting with Arafat set for Saturday. His State Department had said the Palestinian leader must denounce Friday’s attack. Powell is now expected to meet Arafat on Sunday.
“We strongly condemn the violent operations directed at Israeli civilians, especially the latest operation in Jerusalem,” Arafat said in a statement carried in Arabic by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
He also condemned “the massacres and slaughters committed by the Israeli occupation forces against Palestinian civilians and refugees in the city of Nablus, the Jenin camp and against the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem”.
COMMANDER CAPTURED: Nasser Oweiss, a West Bank commander of the group, an armed offshoot of Arafat’s Fatah faction, was captured by the Israelis in the village of Tubas, the army said. On April 5, a senior Palestinian official said Oweiss, 32, had killed himself when he was in Nablus.
MINISTER HELD: The Israeli army on Saturday arrested Hasan Asfour, the first Palestinian minister to be detained in the 16-day crackdown on the West Bank, Palestinian officials said.—Agencies
