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Firefight between Islamic Jihad and Palestinians

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Thursday, November 15, 2001

RAMALLAH Ñ Palestinian security officers and opposition forces exchanged fire in a West Bank city amid rising tension within the regime of Yasser Arafat.



Islamic opposition gunmen fired semi-automatic weapons toward a Palestinian Authority police station in Jenin on Wednesday. The gunmen were protesting the detention of an Islamic Jihad leader detained on charges of plotting attacks against Israel.

Mohammed Nulsi Tawalbe, 25, was said to have sent 11 suicide bombers for attacks in Israel over the last year. Tawalbe was reported to have sent his brother on a suicide mission.

Under heavy pressure from the European Union and the United States, Tawalbe was arrested by PA security forces on Wednesday and transferred to Nablus. The move angered Jihad members who protested in front of PA headquarters in Jenin.

The Islamic militants fired their weapons toward the headquarters and torched three PA security vehicles. PA officials summoned leaders of the insurgency against Israel to end the protest.

On Thursday, PA Chairman Yasser Arafat ordered Tawalbe's release. Palestinian sources said the demonstration marked increasing opposition against PA detention of insurgents. Last week, Jihad leaders said they would resist PA arrests.

Overnight Thursday, Israeli troops punched into the Gaza city of Khan Yunis. The troops, composed of units from the infantry, armored corps and engineering corps, destroyed several Palestinian mortar and machine gun positions.

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