Intifadha Confrontations Rage on As Sharon Feels The Heat

17/10/2001| IslamWeb

WEST BANK, SOTHERN LEBANON, (Islamweb & News Agencies)- Despite sustanined diplomatic efforts to contain over 10 months of a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, intifadha confrontations rage on unabated in Gaza and the West Bank. Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon is showing signs of buckling down for war crimes charges in Belgium. In southern Lebanon Israeli tanks fired at Lebanese villages neighbouring the disputed Shebaa Farms.
West Bank Confrontations:
Israeli tanks shelled a Palestinian security post north of the West Bank town of Ramallah early Friday shortly after an Israeli youth was killed near the West Bank settlement of Givat Zeev, north of Jerusalem.
At least nine shells hit a post belonging to Force 17, the elite guard of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, a Palestinian intelligence official said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The bombardment triggered an exchange of fire between Palestinian Resistance men and Israeli occupation soldiers who witnesses said had moved towards an area near Ramallah under full Palestinian control.
Witnesses also reported a gun battle near Beitunia south of Ramallah.
Meanwhile, a third explosion rocked the northern West Bank late Thursday afternoon, with a device blowing up on a roadside as a school bus carrying settler children passed by, but no one was injured, according to Israeli public radio.
The explosion happened by the Jewish settlement of Enav, which lies between the northern Palestinian cities of Tulkarem and Nablus, the radio said.
Earlier, two devices exploded seconds apart near an Israeli paratrooper base also in the northern West Bank.
The same sources also claimed that n o one was injured in those attacks, although a military vehicle was damaged during the first explosion.
The military base, named Sanour, is found south of the Palestinian city of Jenin in the northern West Bank.
In reprisal, Israeli tanks opened fire on the neighboring village of Aga, though no one was hurt, Palestinian witnesses said.
Salah Darawaza Burried
Earlier on Thursday, thousands in the Palestinian-ruled West Bank city of Nablus came to bury Hamas militant Salah Darwaza, hunted down and killed by Israel, and to praise the group's deadly struggle that has included bombings inside the Jewish state. (Read photo caption below).
Ten would-be Palestinian suicide bombers in white robes and masks took ghostly pride of place at the funeral of Salah Darwaza, identified in leaflets distributed before the funeral as a Hamas ``brigadier.''
A day earlier, four Israeli missiles slammed into his car and turned it into a twisted mass of charred metal. Medical workers picked through the wreckage to remove parts of his body.
The Israeli army said Darwaza had helped plan a series of bombings in Israel and was responsible for the death of at least eight people and wounding more than 100 others.
Palestinians say Israel has assassinated more than 40 activists since their uprising began 10 months ago.
Sharon Could Face War Crime Charges in Belgium
In another development, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon began buckling down Thursday for potential war crimes charges in Belgium, where a magistrate has been asked to prepare a possible case against him over 1982 massacres in Lebanon.
Sharon had already made the decision to hire a Belgian defence attorney in case the Belgian trial went forward on the advice of attorney-general Elyakim Rubinstein.
The 73-year-old leader, who had so far shrugged off the possibility of being brought to book for his role as war minister during the massacres.
The head of Sharon's office, Uri Shani, was meeting Thursday with jurists and top officials to work out a strategy to handle the potential Belgian case, according to Israeli public television.
In Belgium, attorney Michael Verhaeghe, acting for a Palestinian woman who escaped the massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps during Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, said his client had been interviewed by examining magistrate Patrick Collignon.
Sharon is potentially facing two lawsuits over the massacre of between 800 and 1,500 Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps following Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
The first suit, charging him with responsibility for the deaths, was lodged by an ad hoc group of Palestinian, Lebanese, Moroccan and Belgian nationals.
A second suit charges crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes was filed by 23 survivors of the massacres as well as five eyewitnesses.
Occupation army radio said that Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz and air force commander Major-General Dan Halutz could be charged in connection with the Israeli clampdown on the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, since late September.
Avi Gal, director of the foreign ministry, told army radio that officials should avoid travelling to nations that could pose an "embarrassing" situation for those concerned but gave no further details.
Shebaa Farms In southern Lebanon, Israeli forces in the occupied Shebaa Farms fired seven rockets into valleys in southern Lebanon Thursday, police said.
Israeli occupation soldiers posted in the Fashkul outpost fired two 155 millimeter shells at around 9:25 PM (1825 GMT) at the Bastara farm, near the village of Kfarshuba, just outside the Shebaa Farms, they said.
Earlier in the evening, the soldiers had fired five similar shells at the same area, they said.
Meanwhile, an Israeli MK surveillance plane overflew the area at medium altitude, witnesses said.
There were no prior reports of Resistance movements or attacks in the area.
The mountainous Shebaa Farms area, captured by Israel from Syria in 1967 and claimed by Lebanon, is located on the southeastern side of Mount Hermon, where the borders of the three countries (Syria, Israel and Lebanon) meet.
The Lebanese Islamic Resistance movement Hezbollah, which spearheaded the resistance against Israeli occupation until the May 2000 troop pullout, says the withdrawal is not complete and vows to continue its attacks until the farms are handed over to Lebanon.
A Palestinian policeman searches the remains of the car of Hamas activist Salah Darwazeh after four rockets or tank shells struck the car in the West Bank city of Nablus July 25, 2001. Israel killed a Palestinian activist on Wednesday, a move Palestinians said would set back international efforts to end 10 months of bloodshed. (Abed Omar Qusini/Reuters)