Israeli tanks threaten villages

BETHLEHEM - A member of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction was shot dead last night in what Palestinians called an Israeli assassination, fuelling tensions already stoked by an Israeli military build-up near Bethlehem.

Tanks took up position around Bethlehem and the nearby village of Beit Jala in the West Bank after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatened to send troops into Beit Jala if Palestinians continued shooting from there at the Jewish settlement of Gilo.

Imad Abu Sneineh, aged 27, was shot in the head, chest, stomach and legs by 10 bullets fired by an Israeli in a car with Palestinian number plates outside his home in Hebron, Palestinian officials said.

Israeli security sources said Abu Sneineh was killed under Israel's policy of killing Palestinians they accuse of carrying out or plotting attacks on Israelis.

They said he was wanted for organising shootings at Jewish settlers in Hebron.

Palestinians accuse Israel of assassinating about 60 people since they began an uprising against Israeli occupation last September after peace negotiations stalled.

Israel moved at least a dozen tanks to the outskirts of Beit Jala and other villages nearby a day after tanks entered the West Bank town of Jenin and demolished a police building in a response to Palestinian suicide bombings.

Soon after the Jenin raid, shooting erupted in areas of the West Bank south of Jerusalem, including Bethlehem and Beit Jala. An Israeli political source said Sharon told United States envoy David Satterfield at a meeting yesterday that he would send troops to Beit Jala if the shooting continued. Israel Radio said the Army had been ready to raid Beit Jala but called off the operation after Foreign Minister Shimon Peres requested time to negotiate an end to the shooting at Gilo with Palestinian officials.

Palestinian witnesses said tanks stood on the edge of two villages under Israeli security control east of Bethlehem and were inside the village of Beit Tamre, which had been placed under curfew. Tanks were also at the edge of the Palestinian-ruled village of Beit Sahour but had not entered territory under Palestinian control.

- REUTERS

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