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Israeli tanks camped outside Jenin before entering the town one month ago. (AP)
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| By staff israelinsider September 11, 2001 |
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Two Israeli border police guards were shot dead at the entrance to their base in Israel near the Green Line north of Bat-Hefer after midnight. One of the dead was identified as Sgt. Tzachi David, 19, of Tel Aviv. A third border policeman shot was lightly wounded and evacuated to Hillel Yaffe Hospital in Hadera. The area has been a scene of frequent shooting attacks in recent weeks and is where Lt. Erez Merhavi was shot and killed on Thursday night. Gdudei Hashiva, a splinter group of Fatah's military wing, this morning claimed responsibility for the shooting attack.
Two IDF soldiers were lightly injured today when two small charges exploded near the village of Araka in the Jenin area. Earlier a 55-year-old Bezeq employee was shot and lightly wounded in the shoulder when Palestinians opened fire on his vehicle near Harish in the Wadi Ara area.
Meanwhile, IDF forces including tanks, heavy engineering units and armored personnel carriers advanced early this morning into Palestinian-controlled territories and took positions on the outskirts of Jenin in the northern West Bank. Military sources said the move was to intended to "hermetically seal off" the city and prevent terrorists from infiltrating into Israel. An IDF spokesman said the "operation will continue in the areas controlling the town, according to the assessments of the situation." ynet reported that officers and soldiers were given orders suggesting the operation would last at least 72 hours.
UPI quoted Palestinian sources counting 40 tanks, 20 bulldozers, dozens of armored vehicles and about 40 buses full of soldiers at the outskirts of the town. Around 3 am the forces advanced toward town, engaging some Palestinian resistance along the way. Palestinian sources reported four people seriously wounded in clashes with the IDF. Exchanges of fire continued into the morning hours.
The Palestinian Authority last night declared a state of alert in Jenin, and mosques called on residents to prepare to combat an expected IDF attack on the town. Residents reportedly prepared barricades to impede the expected entry of IDF forces into Jenin.
The West Bank town has been the center of terrorist activity in recent months, gaining the nickname of "suicide city" because of the large number of bombers who come from, and train in, the town. According to Channel One military analyst Ron Ben-Yishai, 11 suicide bombing attacks have reportedly emanated from the city, including both of the bombings Sunday: the Hamas-backed attack in Nahariya and the Islamic Jihad attack in Beit Lid.
The Nahariya suicide bomber, an Israeli Arab, reportedly departed from Jenin to carry out the attack. The Israel Security Agency said the bomber had been sent by Qayas Adwan, one of the senior members of the military wing of Hamas, a resident of Jenin.
Despite the provocations, Ben-Yishai speculated that Israel's political echelons might not authorize the entry into Jenin if it was believed that a meeting between Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres could be arranged. If no meeting was likely to take place, he said, the Israeli army might be ordered into the town.
Sunday evening and Monday morning, Israeli security forces arrested Palestinian residents in villages near Jenin, suspecting them of maintaining ties with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Exactly four weeks ago, following the Kiryat Motzkin bombing, Israeli armored forces, including tanks and heavy equipment of the engineering corps, moved into Jenin from all sides, converged on Jenin's main square from several directions and encircled the governor's office. Tanks opened fire on Palestinian police headquarters, causing extensive damage, with bulldozers later called in to finish destroying the building.
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