Israeli tanks move into Bethlehem
BBC, 2 April, 2002
Tuesday, 2 April, 2002, 03:58 GMT 04:58 UK
Israeli tanks move into Bethlehem
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1905000/images/_1906076_hammer-afp-300.jpg
Israel hopes to pre-empt new suicide attacks
Israeli tanks have moved into Bethlehem in the latest of a series of
raids on cities in the West Bank.
A BBC correspondent who watched tanks roll up to
within a few hundred metres of the city's Church of the Nativity could
hear regular bursts of gunfire.
Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli troops hunting
for militants laid siege to the Palestinian security headquarters near
Ramallah.
Heavy gunfire was heard from near the compound where
the Israeli army says about 50 senior militants wanted for planning suicide
bombings and other attacks on Israel are sheltering.
The tanks moved into Bethlehem after Israeli snipers
took up position in the nearby Deheisheh refugee camp.
"I can see three tanks on a road just outside Manger
Square in the centre of town near the Church of the Nativity, and I've
seen soldiers running between the tanks," the BBC's James Reynolds reported
from Bethlehem.
"Every few minutes here I've heard the sound of
gunfire."
The Israeli army has issued a statement saying it
is searching for militants in the city.
Siege
Israeli radio says negotiations are under way at the security compound
near Ramallah, which is headquarters to the Palestinian security chief
in the West Bank, Jibril Rajoub.
Mr Rajoub himself told Reuters news agency by telephone
that the 400 people inside were officials and women employees.
He accused Israel of using helicopter gunships and
tanks against the compound and hiding behind human shields, but he added
that there would be no surrender.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said Israel wanted to
go after militants hiding in the compound but had no intention of harming
Mr Rajoub.
The Israeli army says it has made 700 arrests since
moving into Ramallah on Friday.
Troops have also been carrying out searches in the
town of Qalqilya and tanks have occupied the town of Tulkarm.
Media freeze
Ramallah is now a closed military zone, with troops ensuring Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters are off-limits to journalists.
With the city under curfew, residents say they are
running out of food.
Medical supplies are also low in the hospitals and
the morgues are full because it is impossible to transport bodies to burial
grounds.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says his army's
actions are aimed at eliminating once and for all what he calls a terrorist
infrastructure.
But his own Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, has
called for "easing the siege" and US President George W Bush has urged
Israel to keep open, as he put it, a pathway to peace.
Our correspondent says the media ban prevents Mr
Arafat from making defiant statements that make him look more like a hero
than a defeated leader.
The Foreign Press Association in Israel has protested
strongly against the expulsion of an American television crew from Ramallah.
"Closing an entire city to the media indefinitely
is an extreme and unjustified policy that makes it impossible for us to
cover the important story unfolding here," it said.
In other developments:
- A Katyusha rocket was fired over the Lebanese border into northern
Israel but caused no injuries or damage
- Israeli troops opened fire on foreign pro-Palestinian demonstrators,
wounding at least five foreigners and a Palestinian cameraman - they said
they had been provoked by militant supporters.
- Palestinian gunmen shot dead 11 suspected collaborators, dragging
out bodies to show the media in Tulkarm
- An Israeli army sergeant was killed by a sniper in Bethlehem and
16 were wounded elsewhere in the West Bank.
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