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| By Israel Insider staff and partners January 5, 2006 |
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| Palestinian millitants from Al Aqsa Martyrs' brigades, drive a digger through a concrete wall on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in the town of Rafah, Wednesday Jan. 4, 2006. Palestinian militants, angry at the jailing of their leader by the Palestinian police, stole two diggers and rammed through a wall near the border with Egypt, hours after they blocked the official border crossing and took over government buildings. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra) |
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Hundreds of Palestinians streamed unchecked into Egypt Wednesday and two Egyptian soldiers were killed after militants broke through a Gaza-Egypt border wall with stolen bulldozers and seized control of government buildings in the most brazen challenge to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' authority.
Two Egyptian soldiers were killed and 27 wounded by gunfire, Egyptian officials said, in the mayhem at the border. The soldiers withdrew because they had no orders to fire at the rampaging Palestinians, an officer said.
The armed Palestinians, linked to Abbas' own Fatah Party, stormed the border to reinforce their demand for the release of their leader, who is being held in the kidnapping of three Britons.
The militants' rampage through the southern Gaza town of Rafah underscored the growing lawlessness in Palestinian towns, especially in Gaza. Abbas, who has condemned the chaos, has been unable to impose order, and his failure to keep the gunmen in check is expected to harm Fatah's prospects in Jan. 25 parliament elections.
Fatah-affiliated vigilantes demanding government jobs or the release of imprisoned friends have been responsible for much of the anarchy, particularly since Israel's pullout from Gaza in September.
The tightly run Islamic Hamas, whose followers have rarely been involved in vigilante violence, is expected to do well in the vote against the corruption-tainted Fatah.
The rampage began late Tuesday, after Palestinian intelligence arrested Alaa al-Hams, an Al Aqsa militant, on suspicion he and his followers kidnapped human rights activist Kate Burton and her parents for two days last week. The Burtons were among 19 foreigners abducted by Fatah gunmen in Gaza in recent months. All have been freed unharmed.
Al-Hams followers fired at the Palestinian security headquarters in the southern town of Rafah where he was held, briefly took over four government buildings and then drove to the Rafah crossing - reopened last month after intense negotiations directed by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Firing in the air, they closed the entrance gate and told waiting passengers to leave the area. They set up an impromptu checkpoint at the access road to the crossing, turning away travelers.
They left the buildings and the crossing after three hours.
Then the militants stole two bulldozers in Rafah and led an impromptu parade of hundreds of jubilant residents toward a massive wall a few hundred meters (yards) from the border. Five militants rode in the shovel of one bulldozer, while children held onto the back of the vehicle.
"We are going to do everything we can to pressure the Authority to release our leader," said an Al Aqsa activist who gave his name as Abu Hassan.
The bulldozers smashed two holes in the towering concrete barrier at the same spot where Hamas militants had blasted through it during the border chaos that followed Israel's Gaza pullout in the summer.
Palestinian security officials had closed the earlier hole with a patch of heavy concrete blocks, but those quickly gave way before the bulldozer Wednesday.
Hundreds of Palestinians swarmed into the buffer zone as militants fired in the air.
"Many people walked through. The Palestinian police can't stop them," said Fawzi Shaheen, a 26-year old Rafah resident who ran toward the border.
After nightfall as many as 300 Palestinians crossed into Egypt, an Egyptian security official said. Witnesses put the figure at 1,000. Dozens of people, mostly women, crossed into Gaza, they said.
Thousands of Egyptian Interior Ministry troops headed to the border. An Egyptian armored vehicle was set on fire and at least three Palestinians were reported injured, one seriously when an Egyptian troop carrier crushed him against a wall, a witness said.
The Rafah crossing was handed to Palestinian control, under European supervision, as part of a U.S.-brokered deal with Israel last month. Since then, the crossing was forced to shut down several times during attacks by gunmen.
Raanan Gissin, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, charged that the unchecked crossings are a violation of the agreement Rice negotiated. "We will deal with any terrorism that emanates from their territory, and we know how to deal with it," he said.
Israel threatened to close the crossing in coordination with European observers if the breach is not repaired, according to a complaint sent from the Defense Ministry to the United States and the Palestinians, the ministry said. In the message, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz expressed grave concern over the development.
Israel also asked Egypt to arrest Palestinians who cross from Gaza through the breach. Israel has warned about militants and weapons entering Gaza, now that Israel does not have control over the border.
In other chaos, Palestinian gunmen burst into a Rafah house early Wednesday and tried to kidnap the parents of Rachel Corrie, who was killed in 2003 as she protested the impending demolition of a house in the southern Gaza town, according to a witness.
The five gunmen appeared to be affiliated with the ruling Fatah movement, according to Samir Nasrallah, the Corries' host, though it was not clear if they were from the same group that blockaded the border. The gunmen eventually relented after being told who their targets were, he said.
Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 as she tried to stop it from demolishing Nasrallah's house. Her parents, Craig and Cindy, have repeatedly visited Nasrallah since their daughter's death. They left Gaza safely after the attempted kidnapping, Nasrallah said.
Also Wednesday, Palestinians fired at least six rockets from Gaza at Israel, the military said. In consultations at the Israeli Defense Ministry, it was decided to step up attacks against terrorist leaders in Gaza and maintain a closure on Judea, Samaria and Gaza at least through the weekend, banning Palestinians from entering Israel.
The AP contributed to this report.
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