Israeli Tanks Enter al-Zeitun Village in Gaza

26/07/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS3 Palestinians Wounded in Clashes with Occupation Troops||Arab Envoys Put Off Anti-Israeli UN Resolution||PA Urges Arab League Countries to Make Good Their Pledges of Financial Aid|| STORY: Three Palestinians were wounded, two seriously, after Israeli tanks and bulldozers pushed their way into a Palestinian village in the central Gaza Strip and began firing on buildings, Palestinian medical and security sources told reporters.

A fierce gunbattle broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian Resistance men as seven tanks and three bulldozers moved nearly one kilometer (half a mile) into Palestinian-controlled territory around al-Zeitun village near Netzarim and began firing tank shells and heavy machine-guns, witnesses and security sources said.

Raed Dhoun, 25, who sustained injuries to his face, and Ahmad al-Kabariti, 22, who injured in the chest, were both in serious condition, while a third person, who was hit in the leg, was moderately injured, sources at the al-Shifa hospital said.

The occupation army said Palestinian men had earlier fired a Qassam rocket at a kibbutz inside Israel.

"The rocket landed inside kibbutz Sa'ad, some 15 meters (yards) from a house but no one was injured," according to the source

The kibbutz lies some five kilometers (three miles) inside Israel.

Qassam rockets are considered to be the trademark of the Resistance group Hamas.

The sources said Palestinians had also opened fire on two army posts Thursday evening, one near Neve Dkalim, which is just outside Khan Yunis, and one near the southern town of Rafah, on the Israeli-Egyptian border.

ARAB ENVOYS PUT OFF ANTI-ISRAELI UN RESOLUTION

In New York, Arab delegates put off introducing a U.N. Security Council resolution on the Israeli air raid in Gaza City, with diplomats saying there were divisions among ambassadors over the text.

Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. observer, said Arab ambassadors would meet again on Friday and then seek reactions among council members.

"We don't want to push anyone before we know that something is possible," he told Reuters, in an apparent reference to the United States, which opposes the resolution.

Syria, the only Arab nation with a seat on the council, reportedly believed the text, circulated informally by Saudi Arabia as current head of the Arab group of nations, was not worded strongly enough, council sources said.

Damascus was said to believe that language used by speakers in a late Wednesday Security Council meeting was a more forceful message to Israel than any resolution the 15-member council, especially the United States, could accept.

Most Arab ambassadors wanted the 15-member council to adopt a resolution demanding the "withdrawal of the Israeli occupying forces from Palestinian cities."

PA URGES ARAB LEAGUE MEMBER COUNTRIES TO MAKE GOOD THEIR PLEDGES OF FINANCIAL AID

The Palestinian representative to the Arab League urged member countries Thursday to make good their pledges of financial aid to the Palestinian Authority.

The meeting was convened to discuss Israel's airstrike on Gaza City on Tuesday.

Arab leaders agreed at their March 28 summit to pay the Palestinian Authority dlrs 55 million per month for six months. The authority requires about dlrs 60 million a month to pay its salaries.

The league reported last week that in the past three and a half months, the authority had received a total less than dlrs 200 million, and that 11 Arab countries had paid nothing. 

The league's representatives condemned the strike at Thursday's meeting, saying their organization should take "those who committed Gaza massacre" to the International Criminal Court.

The representatives also called on the U.N. Security Council to "immediately stop the (Israeli) aggression ... (and) provide international protection for the Palestinian people," according to a statement issued after the meeting.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli army tank stands in position near the West Bank village of Iraq Burin south of Nablus as soldiers enforce a curfew and carry out house-to-house searches for Palestinian resistance men Thursday July 25, 2002. (AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)
- Jul 25 12:47 PM