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Israel Seals Off Palestinian Territories
 Israel yesterday sealed off the Palestinian territories and reoccupied the West Bank town of Tulkarm in swift response to a suicide bombing at a shopping mall that killed four women. The authorities simultaneously closed entrances to all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip to non-residents with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon determined extremists will not flood the territory ahead of Augustâs historic pullout. The military shut down the territories and swept into Tulkarm to hunt down the perpetrators after what was the first suicide attack in Israel in four and a half months, claimed by radical Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad. Troops arrested five members of the movement around Tulkarm, which Israel had returned to Palestinian control last March as a confidence-building gesture.Sharon said that there would be no hiding place for Jihad as long as their members continued their acts of violence. âI ordered the defense establishment to increase our activity and to do as much harm as possible to the leadership of the Islamic Jihad terror organization,â he said in a speech near Tel Aviv. âWe will not leave them alone until they stop these murderous acts.â Israel has sharply rebuked Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for doing nothing to dismantle armed groups, even through the Palestinian leader denounced the suicide bombing as âa terrorist attackâ and vowed to punish the perpetrators. Posted by: Fred 2005-07-14 |
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