Bank city of Hebron on Saturday, June 29, Christian residents beganburning candles and praying for peace. Gunfire had reverberated throughout their town since Friday, June 28, when Israeli forces pounded and eventually destroyed the Palestinian complex because 15 suspected Palestinian militants allegedly refused to surrender.
More than 130 other Palestinians, including suspected terrorists and security personnel, left the building in the previous four days, including 20 people who were taken into Israeli custody, news reports said.
Israeli troops could be seen searching the rubble, however army officials admitted they only found weapons and ammunition but no trace of the 15 men thought to have been holed up inside. Army Radio reported they were believed to be buried beneath the debris.
‘EXCUSE’
Palestinian Authority representatives suggested that Israel was looking for an excuse to destroy its Hebron headquarters, and that the 15 men had already left. The Voice of America (VOA) quoted Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo as saying that the destruction of the building showed, "the brutality of the occupation," by Israeli forces.
While tensions increased, the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) in Hebron urged believers worldwide to pray for peace and to "light a candle in homes, churches, work places, monasteries, prayer centers, and institutions of all kinds."
The CPT, which launched its initiative on the internet, said the project was aimed at bringing "light into this world where intolerable dimensions of violence are erupting." An estimated 60,000 Christians or more are believed to live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank territory and 50,000 in non Palestinian area’s of Israel.
PRAYERS
CPT members said they would gather every day for pray till Pentecost in the troubled city of Hebron "where Abraham and Sarah are buried." They suggested that both Israeli’s and Palestinians need Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord.
The CPT announcement, seen by BosNewsLife, came as news emerged Saturday, June 29, of further bloodshed in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian witnesses told reporters a Palestinian woman was killed and her husband wounded when they were hit by machine gun fire from an Israeli tank.
In addition to Hebron, Israeli troops have taken up positions in six other West Bank cities, leaving Jericho as the only major population city still under the control of the Palestinian Authority.
CONFINED
More than 600,000 Palestinians have been confined to their homes since the Israeli military offensive began earlier in June, VOA reported. However Israel said it had no other option than to continue its military campaign, following two recent suicide bombings in Jerusalem killed 26 Israelis.
There are also indications that suicide bombers are no longer single men, without children. On Friday, June 28, Israeli forces released a picture of an 18 months old infant, dressed as a suicide bomber with explosives around its small body.
The army claimed the controversial photo was found in a family album during a search of a house belonging to an alleged Hamas militant in Hebron. Although it was difficult to verify under which circumstances the photo was made, the picture already lead to mixed reactions.
BOMBER BABY
While Israeli’s reacted with shocked, some Palestinian women described the "bomber baby" as a little hero, according to television reports. "It is a strange heroism," admitted Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi according to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
"But at the same time it is part of the distortion that results from ongoing victimization, incursions, targeting civilians, a whole captive Palestinian population," she was quoted as saying.
Palestinian children often dress up as militants brandishing toy guns or suicide bombers, but the Hebron "baby bomber" photograph has provoked widespread concern in Israel, the BBC and other networks said.
