Israeli soldiers have battled Palestinian gunmen holed up in a mental hospital in a flareup of violence as U.S. envoys began a visit to sound out Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on a Gaza pullout plan. White House officials Stephen Hadley and Elliot Abrams, along with Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, were also expected to meet Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie.
Palestinian witnesses said 12 men, mostly known militants from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades that make up part of President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction, were detained during the raid in Bethlehem. The army said there were no casualties. It said the militants had been meeting at the hospital to plan attacks against Israelis. "We circled the building at 4 a.m. and called on the terrorists to give themselves up. They opened fire from inside. We traded gunfire for about an hour," an army officer said on Thursday. Israeli fire left gaping holes in walls and chunks of plaster littering the corridors where nurses comforted shaken patients, the witnesses said. The wanted Palestinians surrendered after the firing stopped.
I am the only person who thinks Israeli’s intelligence always good, has got even better recently. I wonder what they are doing that is new?
| I don't know about that, but a nut house seems an appropriate place for a Paleostinian planning session. |
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