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Islamic Jihad Says It Will No Longer Respect Ceasefire
Ramallah, 24 Oct. (AKI) - In a message posted to Islamist websites on Monday, the militant Palestinian Islamic Jihad group announced that "from today" it will no longer respect an eight-month unofficial ceasefire. "Following the killing of Islamic Jihad's military wing al-Quds Brigades' leader Luai al-Saadi, and as long as the Israelis continue their military incursions in the West Bank, we are free of the obligation to respect the ceasefire and will respond to the Zionist aggression" the group's message read. Israeli troops shot dead al-Saadi - most senior Palestinian militant killed since the start of the ceasefire - in Tulkarm on Monday. The previous day, they targeted an al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades member, Majed al-Ashkar, killing him in a raid because, like al-Saadi, he had allegedly been planning attacks on Israelis. The Israeli army later imposed a curfew on Tulkarm, including the Nur a-Shams Palestinian refugee camp, al-Jazeera Net reported. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are linked to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas' mainstream Fatah party. Islamic Jihad vowed "blood for blood" and suggested the truce could be on the verge of collapse after Israel's killing of al-Saadi, accused of masterminding suicide bombings that killed 10 Israelis since the ceasefire was declared in February. Islamic Jihad has said those were attacks were in retaliation for Israeli truce violations, although it had stated to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas its commitment to maintain the "calm" until the end of the year. The army has made frequent raids into Tulkarm and other major West Bank cities and towns during a 5-year-old Palestinian uprising. "We condemn the Israeli incursion and assassinations in Tulkarm. This threatens the ceasefire we're trying to maintain," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement. The mounting violence in the occupied territories is jeopardising the fragile ceasefire and undermining hopes that Israel's Gaza pullout from Gaza and four West Bank settlements in September could revive peacemaking. Posted by: Steve 2005-10-24 |
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