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Israel says Nablus Raid Open-Ended |
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Monday, 26 February 2007 |
The largest Israeli raid in the West Bank for months entered its second day Monday, with tens of thousands of Palestinians confined to their homes in Nablus.
Occupation troops kidnapped 20 Palestinians in the first day of the sweep, triggering clashes that left eight people wounded.
The Israeli military pledged to maintain the open-ended sweep until it fulfills its goal of nabbing nine wanted people.
Palestinians warned the "outrageous aggression" would undermine efforts to revive the "peace" process.
"This aggression by the Israeli occupation government is like cutting the road forward after all our efforts to find peace," Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's office said in a statement.
The raid began before 3 a.m. Sunday, when about 80 jeeps, armored vehicles and bulldozers poured into Nablus, witnesses said.
Occupation soldiers closed the main entrance to the city and the bulldozers erected huge piles of rubble to block off key roads.
The Zionist military took over local television and radio stations, broadcasting orders to people to remain indoors and warning that the clampdown would remain in effect for several days.
Occupation soldiers moved from door to door, entering homes in search of fighters, concentrating on the Old City, a section of rundown buildings and narrow alleyways.
At one point, a group of nervous Zionist soldiers forced a Palestinian youth to lead them into a home. The soldiers then took him, along with several young Palestinian men, into a military vehicle.
The occupation's supreme court in 2005 banned the practice of using Palestinian civilians as "human shields'' to search homes ahead of soldiers.
Sporadic clashes were reported as occupation soldiers were pelted with stones and cement blocks, and exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen.
The Hamas-led Palestinian government called on the international community to intervene, warning that the raid would only lead to further instability in the region.
"The international community should understand that Israel, with its continuing aggressive policies in the Palestinian territories, is threatening all chances of stability in the region," it said in a statement.
"The Palestinian government asks the international community to stop Israeli crimes."
Palestinian lawmaker Saeb Erekat condemned "this military incursion'', saying it "will undermine the efforts that are being made to sustain the ceasefire with Israel''.
The raid came at a sensitive time when Hamas and Fatah are trying to put together a unity government.
Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Hamas-led government, said the Nablus raid is part of an Israeli effort to destroy the unity deal.
Last July, Israel conducted a vast three-day operation in Nablus in which it destroyed almost all the local Palestinian Authority headquarters.
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