Nablus Controlled by Israeli Occupation Troops

03/08/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Number of Palestinians Killed in Nablus Now Put at Five; Houses Destroyed at Seven||Curfew in Nablus Reinforced; No. of Palestinians Arrested: Fifty||Arafat Appeals for International Protection||Israeli Occupation Army Review Board on Expulsions Adjourns without Decision, to Reconvene Sunday|| STORY: The Israeli army blew up two buildings with explosives labs and arrested at least 50 Palestinians in house to house searches Friday as troops took control of Nablus.

The army clashed with Palestinians in several places in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and overall, five Palestinians were killed, including an elderly woman, and seven houses and buildings were destroyed.

Also, the military said it planned to expel two relatives of suspected Palestinian militants from their homes in the West Bank to the Gaza Strip - a transfer Israel hopes will deter potential attackers.

Nablus, the largest city in the West Bank with about 200,000 people, has been under an Israeli military curfew for most of the past six weeks, along with other Palestinian population centers.

Residents of Nablus defied the curfew from Monday to Wednesday, and life regained a semblance of normalcy as Palestinians returned to the streets and Israeli forces remained in armored vehicles parked on the outskirts of the city.

However, the military reinforced the curfew Thursday, and a convoy of more than 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers rolled into Nablus around 2 a.m. Friday.

Palestinian suspects were handcuffed and blindfolded before being taken from Nablus on army buses.

ARAFAT APPEALS FOR INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called the Israeli operation "a new massacre" and appealed for U.N. intervention. "I need an answer from the whole United Nations: is this acceptable?" he said at his headquarters in Ramallah.

ISRAELI REVIEW BOARD ON EXPULSIONS ADJURNS, TO RECONVENE SUNDAY

The deliberations of the occupation army review board set up to decide on the legality of expulsion to Gaza of two family members of Palestinian Resistance bombers ended undecidedly Friday afternoon.

The review board will be convened again on Sunday, according to an Israeli Radio report.

The lawyers of the two family members, from the Moked - Defense of the Individual organization, said they would make an appeal to the High Court of Justice on Friday or Saturday, demanding that the board's deliberations be open to the media, the report added.

Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein had earlier authorized the expulsions, which were also sansctioned by the head of the IDF's Central Command, Major-General Yitzhak Eitan.

PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli soldiers guard Palestinians who were arrested during an army operation in the West Bank city of Nablus, August 2, 2002. Israeli troops, backed by more than 100 tanks, poured into the center of the West Bank city of Nablus, killing three Palestinians as Israel hit back for a Jerusalem university bombing in which seven died. Photo by Abed Omar Qusini/Reute