Palestinian stronghold in Army grip

LLAH - A senior Palestinian official says Israel's seizure of positions inside a Palestinian-ruled West Bank town yesterday amounts to a re-occupation which could pave the way for a Middle East war.

Israeli tanks and troops entered the West Bank town of Beit Jala and commandeered positions frequently used by Palestinian gunmen to shoot at the nearby Jewish settlement of Gilo, which Israel considers to be a neighbourhood of Jerusalem.

Israel Radio said troops took control of five houses. A Palestinian security officer was killed.

The Army said it would remain in the positions for a limited period.

"This is a new stage in the gradual Israeli escalation carried out by [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon," said Palestinian cabinet minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.

"This is the phase of re-occupation, therefore on the ground he has practically paved the way for war. We have every right in the world to resist occupation."

The overnight raid into Beit Jala followed shooting by gunmen which wounded one Israeli. The fire erupted hours after Israel killed leading Palestinian radical Abu Ali Mustafa as he sat at his office desk.

Sharon recently warned he would not tolerate further shooting on Gilo. But Rabbo said yesterday that "Gilo's security can only be achieved when the settlers and their settlements withdraw".



Palestinian anger mounted after the killing of Mustafa, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He died instantly in a helicopter missile attack on his office in Ramallah.

Israel said Mustafa was a "car bomb specialist" and his death would save Israeli lives. PFLP leaders denied he was involved in plotting attacks against Israel.

Thousands of Palestinians were expected to attend his funeral.

The Palestinian Authority declared three days of national mourning and said Israel "by this sinful crime ... has set the stage for a full-scale, unlimited war". PFLP and Palestinian radicals threatened to escalate attacks on Israeli targets.

Within hours of the assassination, the PFLP claimed responsibility for killing a Jewish settler near Ramallah in a revenge attack.

Palestinians said Mustafa was the most senior Palestinian political leader killed by Israel since Khalil Wazir, better known as Abu Jihad, was assassinated in Tunis in 1988.

Born in the West Bank town of Arraba, Mustafa, aged 64, was elected to head the PFLP last July.

One of the founders of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Mustafa fled the West Bank when Israel captured it in 1967 and began his struggle by organising clandestine attacks against the Jewish state from Jordan. He returned to the West Bank on September 30, 1999, after spending 32 years in exile, often in Damascus.

Mustafa's assistants and colleagues wept openly after his assassination.

Mustafa's deputy, Abdel Rahim Mallouh, said: "Mustafa is not an ordinary man. Sharon and Israel will pay the price of his blood."

After the killing Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa accused Israel of engaging in "Mafia politics" and Belgium, holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, urged both sides to halt violence and restore dialogue.

- REUTERS

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