Palestinians fire mortars on Jerusalem
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Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Thursday, July 19, 2001
JERUSALEM Ñ For the first time in the nearly ten-month-old war,
Palestinian gunners have fired mortar shells toward Jerusalem.
The gunners fired two mortars on Tuesday toward the southern Jerusalem
neighborhood of Gilo. One mortar landed in Gilo and the other shell struck
an area next to the tunnel that connects Jerusalem to the West Bank. The
mortars were identified as 60 mm shells.
Israeli military sources said the Palestinian mortar fire was an
escalation of the war with the Palestinians. They said Defense Minister
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer has ordered a mobilization of forces for deployment
around the West Bank. But Ben-Eliezer did not order an attack on PA
facilities.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened his top ministers to
discuss the latest Palestinian attacks, which included a suicide bombing at
an Israeli train station in which two Israelis were killed. The meeting was
described as stormy as at least two of the ministers criticized what they
termed was the government's policy of restraint.
"When we know of a place where they are planning an attack, we respond,"
Israeli Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh said.
During the Cabinet meeting, Palestinian gunners continued their mortar
fire -- this time toward the Jewish settlement of Netsarim in the Gaza
Strip. Nobody was injured.
So far, officials said, the government has focused its efforts in the
diplomatic rather than in the military sphere. Sharon and Ben-Eliezer spoke
on late Tuesday with U.S. President George Bush and Secretary of State Colin
Powell and complained that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has
refused to stop Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians and installations.
Still, Israeli officials said, the Cabinet does not plan to order a
military invasion of the West Bank.
"We haven't reached a decision like this," Cabinet spokesman Gideon Saar
said. "All of our decisions are meant to increase security."
Islamic opposition groups in Bethlehem claimed responsibility for the
mortar attack. They said this was in retaliation for an Israeli helicopter
strike on Tuesday in which four Hamas members were killed.
Israeli sources said Israeli intelligence agencies had received an alert
that the targeted Hamas agents were planning to place a car bomb in
Jerusalem. They said the PA had ignored Israeli demands to arrest the Hamas
fugitives.
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