Israeli tanks and troops entered a Palestinian refugee camp late Monday in the Gaza Strip, triggering fighting in which they killed 17 Palestinians, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said. The reports raised to at least 23 the number of Palestinians killed in three large-scale raids in the West Bank and Gaza, during which Israeli forces rounded up about 1,100 people for interrogation.
Seventy-five other people were reported wounded in the nighttime raid in the Jebaliya refugee camp, which continued into Tuesday morning. They were taken to Gaza City hospital after Israeli forces shut off access to the hospital in Jebaliya, Palestinian security officials said.
Heavy fighting broke out after Palestinian militants fired mortar rounds at a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, causing no injuries, the army said. Shortly afterward, more than 20 Israeli tanks, supported by helicopters, entered northern Gaza and exchanged heavy fire with Palestinian gunmen on the edge of the Jebaliya refugee camp, Palestinian witnesses said.
Israeli military sources confirmed that an operation was under way in the camp, saying: "Ground forces are conducting searches and operating against terrorist targets."
In addition to the 17 people reported killed at Jebaliya, a Palestinian security officer was killed by Israeli fire at about the same time elsewhere in southern Gaza.
Meanwhile, five other people were killed earlier Monday in Israeli army sweeps of the Palestinian town of Qalqilya and the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, Palestinian officials and hospitals said. Palestinian men were handcuffed and blindfolded as Israeli soldiers searched for militants in the wake of recent attacks against Israelis. In all, about 1,100 were rounded up for questioning.
More than 130 Palestinians and 50 Israelis have been killed in the first 11 days of March, the bloodiest period since a new round of violence erupted in September 2000.
ARAFAT ALLOWED TO TRAVEL
Israeli forces have raided several Palestinian towns and refugee camps in recent days, saying they have detained militants, seized weapons and uncovered bomb-making labs. The raids have been accompanied by conciliatory diplomatic gestures from the Israeli government ahead of a new round of peace efforts to be led by President Bush's envoy in the Middle East, Anthony Zinni, who is to arrive in the region Thursday.
The government said Monday that it would allow Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to move freely in the West Bank and Gaza, lifting a ban on travel that had confined him to the West Bank town of Ramallah since December.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo dismissed the announcement as meaningless.
"There are no positive intentions behind this decision," Rabbo said. "What is needed from the Israeli government is to immediately stop its crimes and massacres."
Arafat remained in his Ramallah compound all day Monday, and Palestinian officials said they did not know when he might venture out. He hosted Ron Schlicher, the U.S. consul-general in Jerusalem, and spoke by telephone with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, aides said.
Arafat's virtual house arrest was lifted after Palestinian security forces complied with an Israeli demand to arrest five suspects in the killing in October of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi.
As in the past, Arafat will have to get Israeli approval to travel outside the West Bank and Gaza. Previously, it was routinely granted to the globe-trotting Arafat, but it will no longer be automatic, said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"A lot will depend on the situation at the time. If there are puddles of blood everywhere, it will make a difference," Gissin said.
A big test will come this month. Arafat wants to attend an Arab summit March 26-28 in Beirut, Lebanon, where the Middle East conflict will dominate the agenda.
DIPLOMATIC PUSH
The latest U.S. diplomatic push for peace begins this week. Zinni is expected Thursday, while Vice President Dick Cheney is expected next week as part of a 12-nation tour.
As well as building a case for a tougher policy against Iraq, Cheney is to talk to Middle Eastern leaders about the Arab-Israeli violence.
Speaking Monday in London on the first leg of his trip, Cheney denied any link between the two issues even if some Arab states held out the prospect of more cooperation on Iraq in exchange for more U.S. involvement in the peace process - including more pressure on Israel.
"I'm sure they're linked in some minds, but the fact of the matter is, we need effective policies to deal with both situations," Cheney said.
Ahead of the visits, Sharon has softened other positions to the dismay of the hard-line members of his coalition government.
In addition to allowing Arafat to travel around the West Bank and Gaza, Sharon said he was no longer insisting on a week of complete calm before moving ahead with a U.S. truce plan.
Tourism Minister Benny Elon of the National Union bloc said he and fellow minister Avigdor Lieberman would resign Tuesday.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that the resignations likely would lead to early elections. An unidentified minister predicted that if Sharon was unable to forge a cease-fire after softening his stance, "his political demise will be fast."
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres met Monday with senior Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia, although no breakthroughs were reported.
In the meantime, Israel's military was remaining highly aggressive. Monday's raids were launched just hours after a Palestinian gunmen fired on a banquet hall in the Israeli port city of Ashdod during a bar mitzvah celebration, a Jewish coming-of-age rite.
The assailant's M-16 assault rifle jammed, and he was arrested after wounding a 13-year-old boy.
"We conduct operations as soon as there is intelligence of ... suicide attackers, terrorist cells, explosive charges or vehicles with explosives," said Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. "Our aim is to disrupt attacks."
(China Daily March 12, 2002)
