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Saint-Gaudens

Palestinians set sights on Rachel's Tomb

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Wednesday, December 6, 2000

JERUSALEM — The Palestinian Authority has set a new goal in its mini-war with Israel — the capture of a leading Jewish holy site.

Israeli military sources said PA fighters came within meters of Rachel's Tomb in fighting on Monday. They said gunmen from the nearby Aida refugee camp approached the tomb and directed automatic gunfire at one of the holiest sites in Judaism.

At one point, the sources said, Israeli assault helicopters fired two anti-tank missiles at Aida to stop the Palestinian gunfire. Still, the fighting continued into Monday evening in what the sources called the most intense in the nine-week-old campaign.

"We assume that it was an attempt to capture [the tomb]," a military spokesman said. "We view this as a very serious incident as this is a holy place for the Jews."

Palestinians said 12 people were injured in the fighting. They said the attack on Rachel's Tomb came in response to Israeli fire toward Muslim worshippers in the nearby Bethlehem-area town of Hussan. On Monday night, Palestinians resumed fire — this time toward the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo.

Bethlehem military governor Mohammed Jaabari did not deny that Rachel's Tomb has turned into a target for the PA. But Jaabari said the Israel has used far greater firepower in response to the Palestinian attacks.

PA legislator and minister Salah Taamari went further. He said the attack on Rachel's Tomb was in retaliation for what he termed an Israeli campaign to end the Palestinian revolt. Officials said Israel captured more than 650 Palestinians during the revolt and assassinated a Hamas fugitive, Awad Silmi, in the Gaza Strip.

"They think they will overcome us village by village, town by town," Taamari said. "We will not let them. If they overtake a village, we will open up fronts on them from every quarter..We will confront them no matter what the results. This is like what happened yesterday in the Aida camp and Gaza camp and Hussan."

But military sources said the PA targeted the capture of Rachel's Tomb early in the mini-war with Israel. They said the tomb has been virtually closed to worshippers because of the fighting.

Israeli motorists and communities came under Palestinian fire overnight Tuesday. Military sources reported attacks throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip as Jewish settlers have organized patrols to secure a key tunnel that connects the southern suburbs of Jerusalem to the Eztion bloc of settlements south of Bethlehem.

Wednesday, December 6, 2000


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