organizations in Palestinian territories, Palestinian and Israeli officials said Thursday, December 26.
The British Broadcasting Corporation quoted Palestinian sources as saying that the killed men shot dead by an Israeli undercover unit included a militant from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a militia linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement – who was killed near Tulkarm.
In addition Ibrahim Abu Awash, said to be a member of Hamas’s Izz-el-Deen al- Qassam military wing and on Israel’s wanted list, was killed on Christmas Day, the Voice of America reported.
Hamza Abu Roub, a local leader of the radical Islamic Jihad organizations, was killed in a gun battle in the Palestinian village of Qabatiya near Jenin, witnesses and Israeli media said.
YOUNGSTER SUFFER
Youngsters were suffering as well. In Nablus troops shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian teenagers after he opened fire at the soldiers with a handgun, Israeli officials said. Israeli radio also reported that 15 wanted persons were arrested overnight in Hebron, Bethlehem and other areas of the West Bank.
The Government of Israel has defended the controversial assassination policy, as the best way to prevent more suicide attacks and more bloodshed. Local media said already ten would-be suicide bombers from the West Bank have been intercepted over the past month.
In recent weeks, the Israeli army has been reportedly on high alert for attempts by Hamas and other groups to abduct soldiers for use as bargaining chips to try to win the release of jailed Palestinian comrades.
TROOPS ON OUTSKIRTS
The violence however overshadowed Christmas celebrations in area’s such as Bethlehem, where Christians believe Jesus was born.
Although Israel withdrew its troops to the outskirts of the town on Tuesday, December 24, local officials cancelled nearly all Christmas celebrations and traditional Christmas decorations to protest what they called the Israeli occupation.
The only notable exception was Midnight Mass in the Church of the Nativity, although Israel kept Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from attending the service.
"It is the saddest Christmas ever for us here," Grandmother Estella Mubarak, 60, told The Mirror newspaper.
