GAZA: Israel arrested dozens of Hamas cabinet ministers and lawmakers
yesterday in a move the Islamic group said aimed to topple its government, as
the army pressed on with a Gaza offensive to free an abducted soldier.
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A general view shows an empty Palestinian
parliament in the West Bank city of Ramallah, following Israel's arrest of
some Hamas lawmakers across the West Bank yesterday.
[Reuters]
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US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and other G8 (group of eight industrialized nations) foreign
ministers said in a joint statement that the arrests in the occupied West Bank
raised "particular concerns." They called on Israeli forces in Gaza to show
restraint.
Hundreds of Palestinian gunmen wielding automatic rifles and anti-tank
weapons took up positions waiting for Israeli forces to open a second front in
the northern Gaza Strip, a day after tanks and infantry pushed into the south of
the territory.
An Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a vehicle carrying a senior Islamic
Jihad militant in Gaza City, slightly wounding him, while masked gunmen blew a
4-metre wide hole in the border wall between Gaza and Egypt.
The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), one of the militant groups believed
to be responsible for the abduction of Corporal Gilad Shalit, issued a statement
taunting Israel, vowing not to provide information about whether the soldier was
alive or dead.
Israel Radio said Shin Bet security chief Yuval Diskin had warned Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas on the day of the kidnapping: "If the soldier is not
returned in 24 hours, Israel will not allow the Palestinian Government to
survive. "
In an implied threat to Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and his
Syrian host, Israeli warplanes buzzed one of President Bashar al-Assad's palaces
on Wednesday. A Syrian official said the air force fired at the planes.
Preparing for an offensive in north Gaza, a region used by militants to
launch rockets at Israel, Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets urging residents to
avoid areas troops may target.
In a night-time blitz in the occupied West Bank, troops arrested Finance
Minister Omar Abdel-Razeq and seven other cabinet members - a third of the Hamas
cabinet - along with 24 legislators of the group, Palestinian officials said.
"(This) ... is a pre-planned plot to destroy the Authority, the government
and the parliament and to bring the Palestinian people to their knees," Hamas
lawmaker Mushir al-Masri said.
Adding to the tensions, the body of an 18-year-old Jewish settler, Eliyahu
Asheri, was found near Ramallah. The PRC took responsibility for the killing.
Five of the cabinet ministers were arrested at the same Ramallah hotel.
Ahmed al-Najjar, a receptionist at the hotel, said he was asleep when troops
arrived after midnight, demanded a list of guests, and took the Hamas men from
their rooms at gunpoint.
Israel said 64 Hamas officials in all were detained and it vowed to seize
other members of the militant group, whose charter calls for the Jewish state's
destruction.
"Recent events and especially those of the last few days prove that the
results of the elections in the Palestinian Authority were translated into a
government policy of terrorism," Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Hamas' Masri called the arrests a declaration of war.
Israel holds Hamas responsible for the abduction of Shalit, a 19-year-old
tank gunner, in a cross-border raid on Sunday.
Beijing Concerned
China said yesterday that it was concerned and uneasy about the Middle East
situation, and urged the involved parties to refrain from resorting to violence.
"We hope both sides (Israel and Palestine) stop the circle of violence as
soon as possible and avoid taking actions that escalate disputes," Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular news briefing.
She said the Palestinian-Israeli conflict should be resolved through
political negotiation and peaceful means in accordance with United Nations
resolutions and on the principle of "land for peace."
(China Daily 06/30/2006 page1)
