October 26, 2003	Sunday	Sha’aban 29, 1424

NABLUS (West Bank), Oct 25: Two Palestinian militants were arrested early on Saturday when Israeli forces swooped on two hospitals in the northern West Bank town of Nablus, as the Palestinians reacted angrily to Israeli plans for the next stage of its security barrier in the territory.

Israeli troops raided Nablus’s Anglican hospital in the early hours, arresting a militant from the Hamas movement who was being treated in the intensive care unit, Palestinian medical and security sources told AFP.

Khaled Abu Hamad, 26, a member of Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, was critically wounded along with two other Hamas militants late Wednesday when their car blew up in the eastern part of Nablus.

At the time, witnesses said they had at least one weapon and several small explosive devices in the car, and said it was possible one of the bombs had accidentally detonated.

All three were critically injured and one died the next day.

Hamad was taken to the Anglican hospital, from where Israeli troops snatched him, taking him away in a military ambulance.

Troops also entered Rafidiyeh hospital looking for the third Hamas militant but were unable to find him, the sources said.

Israeli military sources confirmed the arrest, saying troops had picked up a “senior Hamas operative with blood on his hands”.

He was taken in a military ambulance to a hospital in Israel from where he would be taken for investigation for involvement in planning several suicide bombings, the Israeli sources said.

But, although troops had not found the second Hamas militant at Rafidiyeh, they arrested Jawad Shatyah, a senior operative from the Tanzim, which is Israel’s name for militants linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.

“He was armed and living in the basement of the hospital. There he planned all sorts of attacks against Israelis,” one Israeli source said, adding that it was the second time in two months that Palestinian militants had been arrested while using Rafidiyeh hospital as a base.

Meanwhile, another Palestinian was hospitalised in moderate condition after being shot in the back by Israeli troops as he was trying to enter Nablus by an alternative route, Palestinian medical and security sources said.

In the town’s Balata refugee camp, two foreign volunteers for the International Solidarity Movement were lightly injured by shrapnel during overnight clashes between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli troops.

Meanwhile, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat attacked Israel’s plans to extend its security barrier in the Jordan Valley, saying the aim was a blatant attempt at a fresh land-grab.

“This shows the wall Israel has started building is not for security reasons — they just want to have more Palestinian land and control of all the water resources,” Erakat told AFP. “Israel wants to divide the West Bank into small cantons.”

The Israeli decision was “a challenge to the United Nations resolution”, he added, calling on the US administration to pressure Israel to stop.

The UN General Assembly voted overwhelming on Wednesday in favour of a resolution demanding Israel “stop and reverse” construction of the barrier.

Within the next few days, the Palestinian Authority will announce a comprehensive programme to work against this Israeli policy, Erakat added.

He was reacting to an announcement by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Friday that his government would discuss the idea of building a buffer zone in the Jordan Valley that encroached “several kilometres” (miles) into the West Bank.

“This fence project in the Jordan Valley is currently under consideration. When it is ready, it will be presented to the government to be discussed,” Sharon told Israel’s privately run Channel Two television, vowing the security barrier would be finished “in a year”.

CANCELLED: Members of the Palestinian parliament on Saturday cancelled a special session to appoint a new speaker because the Israeli blockade prevented a quorum from attending, one of them said.

Palestinian Legislative Council Deputy Speaker Ibrahim Abu Najar said members had been asking for travel permits to attend the meeting for the past 10 days but had not received an answer from Israel.

Under Palestinian law, a minimum of 43 deputies must be present to elect a new speaker. By Saturday morning, only 32 had managed to reach the West Bank city of Ramallah.

In Gaza, deputies who could have used videoconferencing to participate in the session refused to enter the hall in protest.—AFP