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A Palestinian police officer looks at the remains of the Preventive Security Service building in Jabaliya hit by IDF rockets. (AP)
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| By Ellis Shuman May 17, 2001 |
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IDF helicopters fired rockets last night at Palestinian security installations in Jenin and the Gaza Strip. Targeted by the IDF were the Palestinian Preventive Intelligence headquarters in the Jabaliya refugee camp and a Palestinian weapons factory near Jenin. The attacks came following Palestinian terrorist activities in new directions - the explosion of a bomb on a railroad line and an attempted grenade attack in Mishor Adumim.
In an official statement describing the IDF actions, the IDF Spokesperson emphasized that the army "would continue its fight against Palestinian terror and would do whatever is necessary to secure the safety of Israeli citizens and IDF soldiers."
The Associated Press reported that ten Palestinians were wounded in the Jabaliya attack. Media reports said that an Israeli missile hit a generator at the refugee camp, cutting off power. The head of preventive security for the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Dahlan, visited the scene and said, "The Israeli aim is to make the Palestinians yield to their demands. The Palestinian people are not afraid."
No injuries were reported in Jenin, where a security installation was targeted for the first time. On Saturday IDF helicopters had fired on a parked vehicle in the city, killing a Fatah activist and a Palestinian policeman. The IDF claimed that the Jenin building hit last night was a Palestinian Authority facility for developing and manufacturing mortars and other weapons.
Israeli trains on track despite attack
A small explosive charge exploded yesterday afternoon on the Tel Aviv-Haifa railroad track, about half a kilometer from Kibbutz Maagan Michael. Slight damage was caused to a passing engine but no injuries occurred in the incident.
Northern Region police spokesman Ch.-Supt. Boaz Goldberg said the explosion was an attempt to blow up or derail a passenger train. "There is no doubt that if this had succeeded, there would have been a major disaster," Goldberg said.
The explosion occurred just before 5 pm. Police sappers arrived shortly afterwards and rail traffic along the Tel Aviv-Haifa line was stopped for three hours while police forces combed the area for additional bombs. It was believed that the perpetrators escaped into the nearby banana groves of the kibbutz.
Israel Railways director general Amos Uzani told Army Radio today that security measures had been boosted, both in passenger checks and along the railroad tracks. Uzani said that because certain lines are active around the clock it was impossible to send a patrol car ahead of each train. Uzani assured passengers that train travel in Israel is safe.
"I picked up the grenade and threw it"
Shimon Vazna prevented a major terrorist incident yesterday when he foiled a grenade attack inside a factory in the Mishor Adumim industrial area.
"We were sitting at the post office drinking coffee, when three terrorists came by and threw the grenade," Vazna said. "Fortunately it did not explode." A factory worker picked up the grenade and Vazna took it away from her, instinctively throwing it outside.
Immediately afterwards Vazna and a friend chased after and apprehended the three terrorists, apparently Palestinians from Jericho who had worked in Mishor Adumim in the past. Vazna and his friends checked the identity cards of the men and held them until the police arrived. Only after arresting the terrorists did the police notice they were each holding additional grenades with intentions of detonating them.
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