Israel tightens stranglehold
Guardian, April 1, 2002

Israel tightens stranglehold

· Tanks roll into West Bank towns
· Palestinian collaborators lynched
· Lebanon shooting raises new fears

Staff and agencies
Monday April 1, 2002

The Israeli army today occupied the West Bank town of Qalqilya and put tanks outside Bethlehem as its campaign against Palestinian militants, which the prime minister, Ariel Sharon, calls a "war", spread out from Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah.
    Late last night bulldozers and about 60 tanks moved into Qalqilya, in the northern West Bank. A military spokesman said troops were searching for suspects and intended to "destroy the terrorist infrastructure" in the town.
    Soldiers have also seized positions overlooking Tulkarem, near Qalqilya, tightening their closure of the town.
    Also in Tulkarem, the bodies of eight suspected Palestinian collaborators were found lynched. A further two bodies were discovered in Qalqilya and another in Bethlehem.
    Palestinian security sources said the two men in Qalqilya, who had been arrested and charged for collaborating more than a year ago, had been killed by their prison guards.
    The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an offshoot of Mr Arafat's Fatah movement, said Mahmood Rahamie, whose body was found in Bethlehem, had been killed after he was caught sending information to the Israelis through the internet and email.
    Tanks rolled into southern Bethlehem just before sunrise and stopped about 500 metres from the church believed to be on the site of Jesus' birthplace. They pulled back a few hours later to leave 40 on a hill overlooking the town.
    Forces also briefly occupied the village of Al Khader, south west of Bethlehem, witnesses said. A curfew was imposed in Beit Jalla.
    And in Ramallah, Israeli troops trapped Mr Arafat in his office for a fourth day. Israeli troops were using bulldozers to build an embankment of dirt around the compound.
    In a televised address last night, Mr Sharon branded Mr Arafat "an enemy of Israel" responsible for a bloody series of suicide bombings.
    The Palestinians' chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, dismissed the speech, saying it was "void of substance, void of hope, void of realism".
    Suicide bombers struck twice on Sunday. In Haifa, a bomber blew up a restaurant, killing himself and 15 Israelis, leaving a scene of devastation and flames.
    Another set off explosives in Efrat, south of Jerusalem in the West Bank, killing himself and wounding a paramedic who stopped him from entering the centre of the settlement.
    The Israeli defence minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, told Israeli radio today that the operation would "hit" terror.
    "We are defending our homes. We have no other place. We are going to defend our homes with all our strength," he said.
    Late yesterday, Israeli troops fired on a group of Palestinian police attempting to surrender in Ramallah, killing five and injuring several more, said a policeman in the building and Palestinian officials.
    In a statement, the Israeli army said "wanted men" were in the building and one of them, wearing an explosive belt, opened fire on the Israelis.
    The soldiers chased him and shot him dead, it said.
    The statement added that Israeli soldiers entered Ramallah hospital to look for suspects, but "categorically denies false Palestinian claims of a mass murder and massacre at the hospital".
    In the West Bank town of Hebron, about 1,000 Palestinians marched late yesterday to protest against the Israeli occupation of Ramallah.
    Gunmen fired in the air as marchers chanted slogans calling for more suicide bomb attacks in Israel.
    In 18 months of fighting 1,269 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 416 on the Israeli side.
    Late yesterday, Hizbullah guerrillas fired at an Israeli army base on the Israel-Lebanon border, security officials said, the second such incident in two days. It also raises the possibility of a new front in the conflict.
    The clashes followed vociferous support for the Palestinians from the head of Hizbullah, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.
    · At a meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, officials from 57 Muslim countries today condemned Israel's incursions into the West Bank and the encirclement of Mr Arafat's headquarters. They also urged the UN security council to intervene to protect the Palestinians.

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