JPost - Reg Req’d
Good News - the gloves come off?
Israeli troops killed a top Islamic Jihad fugitive in a gun battle at his hideout Thursday, prompting threats of revenge by the militant group and placing further strain on an already shaky cease-fire that is vital to a U.S.-backed peace plan.
the cease-fire (such as it is) isn’t critical - disarming and dismantling is
The bloodied body of the wanted man, Mohammed Sidr, was pulled from the rubble of a small warehouse after daybreak Thursday, following a standoff of several hours during which he traded fire with troops. A Kalashnikov assault rifle was found near his body. The military said the warehouse doubled as a bomb lab. Several hours after the battle, soldiers blew up the remains of the building where Sidr held out.
| "Yup. That used t' be the place where Mohammed Sidr used to live..." |
Israel holds Sidr responsible for the deaths of 19 Israelis and two international observers, one from Switzerland and one from Turkey, in several bombings and shootings. Eighty-two people were wounded in these attacks, the Israeli military said.
Good Riddance - No Raisins For You!
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Thursday referred to Sidr as a "ticking bomb." In December, Israel tried to kill Sidr in a helicopter strike, but he escaped. Two boys, ages 3 and 13, were killed instead.
that’s something to actually be sad about
The Palestinian Authority warned that such Israeli operations could collapse the cease-fire. An official statement charged that the raids are in violation of the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan and "might even open the door wide for renewal of the bloody confrontation that has wrecked the region in the last three years."
The raid began at about midnight, and soldiers repeatedly called on Sidr over loudspeaker to surrender, witnesses said.
"Come out with your hands up, Mohammed! We got ya surrounded!"
"You'll ever take me alive, coppers!"
"Y'could be right, Mohammed!" |
The army said he fired at troops, and a gunfight ensued.
| "Take that, Zionist infidels!... OW!... Hey! Stop that!" |
At one point, an army bulldozer tore down the back wall of the warehouse.
| "Goddamit, Rachel! I said get out of the way!" |
Israel Radio said troops fired an anti-tank missile, setting off blasts inside, apparently an explosives cache. Sidr apparently was alone.
"Avner, see if you can put one through that window..."
[WHOOSH!]
"Ho-o-o-o-oly spit!" |
After the body was pulled away, troops blew up the warehouse.
| Or what remained of it... |
Islamic Jihad threatened revenge.
"Yar!... Mutter mutter rhubarb rhubarb... We must have Dire Revenge™!"
"Yes, Mahmoud! Yes! A brilliant idea!" |
The retaliation would be felt "like an earthquake in the heart of the Zionist entity," said a statement on the Islamic Jihad web site.
| "Yes! Yes! Like an accumulation of gas in the bowels of Zionism!" |
"I assure our people that this crime in Hebron will not go unpunished," said Bassam Sadi, leader of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank.
Sounds like he’s volunteering to be the next candidate
The killing of two Hamas members under similar circumstances last week led to a revenge attack on Tuesday in which a teenage Hamas suicide bomber killed a Jewish settler. On the same day, a bomber sent by renegades from Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement blew himself up in a supermarket in a central Israeli town, killing himself and a father of two. Despite the growing tensions, Mofaz was to meet later Thursday with Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan.
"Hi, Mohammed."
"Hi, Shaul."
"How's things?" |
Israel and the Palestinian Authority are deadlocked over how to handle the Palestinian militant groups, and the argument is holding up implementation of a U.S.-backed peace plan, the so-called "road map" to Palestinian statehood by 2005.
"Kill them all!"
"I think we should have a heart-to-heart talk with them."
"Arrest them! Put them in jail!"
"Maybe no teevee for a week?" |
Israel demands that the Palestinian Authority begin dismantling Hamas and Islamic Jihad, as part of its obligations under the road map. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas says he will not confront the militants for fear of sparking a civil war.
| "You outta yer mind? Them suckers'd rip my throat out!" |
Israel, in response, says it will not go on with the road map under these circumstances, and instead keeps chasing terrorists. Mofaz said Sidr posed an immediate danger. "He was indeed a ticking bomb. This is another example that terror is continuing, and that the Palestinian side is not acting to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure," he said.
"It ain't terrorism! It's... ummm... freedom fightin'!"
"Mohammed?"
"Whut?"
"Shuddup." |
Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian spokesman, said the United States must intervene quickly to rescue the cease-fire.
| "Yes, yes! You must stop them from doing what they're doing. But don't even think about trying to stop us from what we're doing! That's freedom fighting!" |
"Without a firm stand from the United States that the two sides live up to their obligations with one grand gesture - that is the immediate implemenation of monitioring ... the cease-fire is finished," he said.
| "An' see? See? It's all their fault! Nope. Nope. Wudn't us. We wuz just freedom fightin'..." |
The ongoing Israeli raids are seen as a provocation by the militants who declared a unilateral three-month truce June 29.
| "Da noive o' dem guyz, tryin' to defend themselves!" |
Mofaz held Arafat largely responsible for the impasse, saying he was an obstacle to peace and that he suspected him of involvement in Tuesday’s two suicide bombings. Arafat says he does not support attacks on civilians.
"Arafat continues to be an obstacle to this (peace) process. I am convinced that we need to reconsider the question of Arafat and what steps should be taken," Mofaz added. Mofaz has been one of the most outspoken proponents of expelling Arafat, a step frequently debated by Israel’s Cabinet but opposed by Israel’s security services and in the end vetoed by Sharon. Those opposing expulsion say it would only boost the stature of Arafat, who has been confined to the West Bank town of Ramallah for nearly two years. Palestinian legislator Saeb Erekat called Mofaz’s comments "ridiculous and nonsensical."
"It’s part of a series of accusations that aim at shifting the eyes of the world from the fact that the Israeli government is continuing to sabotage the vision of President (George W.) Bush and the road map," Erekat said Wednesday.
then his lips fell off
Also Thursday, Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Nablus destroyed the family home of the Hamas bomber who carried out Tuesday’s attack, and arrested an alleged militant in the neighboring Askar refugee camp.
| Mahmoud doesn't live here anymore... |
The Askar home of the other suicide bomber was destroyed a day earlier. |