ISRAEL - Tanks enter Palestinian areas

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BBC Israeli tanks enter Palestinian territory Palestinians exchange fire with Israelis

Israeli tanks and bulldozers have entered Palestinian-controlled areas near Rafah in the Gaza Strip and a Palestinian is reported to have been killed.

The incursion is believed to be Israel's response to an earlier Palestinian raid on a Gaza army post that killed three soldiers.

In another attack in the West Bank, two civilians were killed and three others wounded after their car was attacked by gunmen just west of Jerusalem.

Correspondents say that the Israeli tanks have fired shells while loudspeakers are reported to be calling on locals in Rafah to come out and fight.

Escalating violence

The raid on the Israeli military post is being seen as one of the most brazen of the recent violence and is said to be the first time in months that Palestinian gunmen have successfully penetrated an Israeli army position.

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said it had carried out the attack which took place near the settlement of Gush Katif.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the two Palestinians broke into the base, opening fire with automatic rifles and throwing grenades.

The Israeli Government has said it holds the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, responsible for the latest violence.

Palestinian police, fearing Israeli reprisals, have evacuated their buildings in Gaza.

The Arab television station, Al Jazirah, reported that the attack on the car in the West Bank was claimed by the Al Aqsa Brigade, a group connected to Mr Arafat's Fatah faction.

A man and a woman were killed while their father was critically wounded. Two children - aged six months and two years - were lightly wounded.

The BBC's Barbara Plett says the shootings took place on a road frequently used by Jewish settlers.

Response

Speaking to the BBC, Israel's Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin accused Yasser Arafat of duplicity by professing a desire for a ceasefire while allowing Palestinian extremists to continue to hit Israel.

Mr Rivlin said Mr Arafat had to realise he would get "no advantage by using terrorist acts against Israel".

The radical Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine said the raid was in retaliation for Israeli attacks on Palestinians.

"This operation was in response to the aggressive, ugly war that the criminal [Israeli] government has continued against our people," the DFLP said in a statement.

A DFLP spokesman in Ramallah, Dahwood Talhami, told the BBC their aim was to be rid of what he called "Israel's colonial presence".

Mr Talhami said the DFLP had close relations with all Palestinian organisations but was not necessarily linked to Mr Arafat.

Since the Palestinian intifada began nearly a year ago, Palestinian activists have repeatedly targeted troops and settlers in Gaza.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2001


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