attempt" by militants to target its Gaza border post amid reports that Christians are involved in protecting the Jewish state against suicide attacks.
The violence, which also wattempt" by militants to target its Gaza border post amid reports that Christians are involved in protecting the Jewish state against suicide attacks.ounded 15 people, came shortly after a Chicago-based organization of Jews and evangelical Christians announced it had donated $2 million to Israel to step up security and make it more difficult for Palestinian suicide bombers to launch attacks.
The Chicago Tribune news paper said the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which claims 300,000 supporters in the United States and Canada, made the donation to Israel’s Ministry of Internal Security earlier in the week.
Israel’s deputy consul general in Chicago, David Roet, was quoted as saying that the money will be used to deploy 1,000 security personnel with metal detectors on 1,000 buses.
MORE MILLIONS
The fellowship hopes to raise another $5.2 million for similar security measures on thousands of additional buses, said Diane Dubey, a spokeswoman for the 20-year-old organization, which has 30 evangelical and 20 Jewish members, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Saturday’s violence, which involved speeding jeeps disguised as Israeli military vehicles, underscored concern among Christians supporting Israel that sophisticated suicide attacks will continue despite the ongoing construction of a controversial security barrier between Palestinian lands and Israeli areas.
Using fake army jeeps, complete with wire mesh screens used as protection against Palestinian rock-throwers, was also seen as a new tactic in a Palestinian uprising that began in September 2000.
TAXI EXPLODES
The attack began when a Palestinian taxi rigged with explosives blew up near the Israeli Defense Forces post located at the edge of the entrance to the Erez industrial zone and opposite a Palestinian police position, the Israeli military said.
Soon after, two jeeps painted in Israeli army khaki raced to the scene as if responding to the blast and a Palestinian gunman in the lead vehicle fired on soldiers, who shot him and the driver dead, said Brigadier-General Gadi Shamni, commander of Israeli forces in northern Gaza, in an interview with Reuters.
The second jeep then exploded near a Palestinian police post about 100 meters (yards) away, killing the driver, Shamni said. Hospital officials told Reuters that two other Palestinians, both policemen, were killed and 15 wounded.
"UNUSUAL" COOPERATION
Erez Crossing, which is closed under the general closure over the Purim holiday, has become the focal point for Palestinian attacks emanating from Gaza, an army source was quoted as saying by The Jerusalem Post newspaper. On Feb. 26 two Palestinian gunmen apparently used tunnels and killed a soldier before being shot dead. The next day bulldozers leveled 120 Palestinian-owned shops built above of the underground passage, The Jerusalem Post news paper said.
The latest attack on Saturday, March 6, was an "unusual" combined attack carried out by three groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades — part of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction, the Reuters news agency quoted a Hamas source as saying. A message on the Hamas Web site called it a joint "self-sacrifice operation" and a response to recent Israeli helicopter gunship attacks in Gaza that killed several Hamas members.
Also in the West Bank on Saturday, March 6, a 19-year-old Palestinian policeman was killed by Israeli troops in the Tulkarem refugee camp.
The army reportedly said that soldiers opened fire after the young man drew a gun on an Israeli military patrol. Yet, Palestinian witnesses told reporters that the man was killed during a clash between soldiers and dozens of stone throwers, including many children on their way to school. Earlier Israeli troops arrested two suspected militants in a raid late Friday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, news reports said
ESCALATION FEARED
There are concerns that the violence in Gaza could escalate in a power vacuum if Israel goes ahead with plans to withdraw from the territory, as militant groups might try to take control of the territory from the Palestinian Authority, reported the Voice of America (VOA).
America has not rejected the withdrawal plan, but reportedly expressed reservations about it in recent meetings with Israeli representatives. VOA quoted Israel’s Maariv newspaper as saying that Washington has asked Israel to delay the withdrawal, until after the U.S. elections. The paper said Washington is concerned a pullout could further destabilize an already bad situation.
The Israeli government denied the Maariv report, saying that no dates for a possible withdrawal were discussed during the meetings with American officials, VOA said.
