Israeli military demolishes 13 Palestinian homes near scene of shooting ambush

Articles: Israeli military demolishes 13 Palestinian homes near scene of shooting ambush

Posted by admin on Monday, May 10, 2004 - 06:44 AM

Israeli troops demolished 13 Palestinian homes along a Gaza road Monday, after Palestinian gunmen ambushed Jewish settlers there during an outdoor memorial service at the spot where an Israeli family was killed last week.
No Israelis were injured in Sunday's attack, but automatic fire kept dozens of settlers, including terrified toddlers, pinned to the ground for 20 minutes. Many crouched behind cars during the battle, before racing to nearby armored buses. One Israeli man shielded his screaming 4-year-old daughter on the ground. An armored personnel carrier drove along the side of the road, kicking up large clouds of dust that engulfed the settlers and made it harder for gunmen to take aim. Israeli soldiers killed at least one gunman, and were searching the area for the body of the second gunman. The militant Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the shooting. On Monday, Israeli bulldozers flattened 12 one-story houses along the road, which links Israeli settlements in Gaza with Israel and is heavily guarded. A four-story apartment building was also blown up by troops, Palestinian officials said. In all, about 75 Palestinians were left homeless, all members of the same clan. "They left nothing for us," said Yousef Abu Hadaf, one of the home owners. "The bulldozers are uprooting trees, demolishing our houses." The Israeli military said the houses were torn down because they had served as cover for the gunmen. Several dozen settlers had attended Sunday's roadside memorial service for Tali Hatuel and her four daughters, ages 2 to 11. Hatuel and her children were killed in a roadside ambush last week, as they drove from Gaza to Israel to campaign against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate all Gaza settlements. Meanwhile, Palestinian vandals with axes and shovels desecrated or destroyed 32 graves in a Commonwealth military cemetery in Gaza City. Photographs of U.S. and British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners were stuck to some of the tombstones. "We will take revenge," was written on one tombstone. The vandals also uprooted flowers. The British consulate in Jerusalem said it was aware of the incident and was investigating. About 3,000 Commonwealth soldiers killed in World War I, including those from Britain and India, are buried in the plot in Gaza City. "Our religion as Muslims and our tradition as Palestinians forbid such acts," said Issam Jaradeh, a caretaker at the cemetery. Reports of abuse in American-run prisons in Iraq has reverberated throughout the Arab world, and has further intensified anti-Western sentiment stoked by the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, canceled a trip to the United States, saying he intended to focus his energies on putting together a new plan for withdrawing from the Gaza Strip after his party rejected his original plan. Sharon told his Cabinet ministers during a stormy meeting Sunday that he will present a revised version of his "disengagement plan" in the next three weeks. He did not reveal what changes he is contemplating or how he would satisfy his deeply divided coalition. The announcement was the latest sign of Sharon's determination to push ahead with his plan after its overwhelming defeat in a May 2 referendum of Likud Party members. That vote, though nonbinding, would make it difficult for many Likud Cabinet ministers to support the plan. Sharon told his Cabinet he was canceling his trip to Washington, scheduled for next week, so he could work on the new plan. During the trip, Sharon was to have addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, and was expected to meet with President Bush, who had endorsed Sharon's plan as a valuable step to reviving peace efforts. The original plan called for a full pullout of Gaza, where 7,500 Israeli settlers and 1.3 million Palestinians live, and a withdrawal from four small West Bank settlements. Sharon said the plan to disentangle the Israeli and Palestinian populations would boost Israel's security in the absence of a peace deal. Vice Premier Ehud Olmert said Friday that Sharon still intends to evacuate all Gaza settlements.

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