Palladium-Item · 11 May 2002

CP-2002-136

Gaza residents brace for reprisals

Postponed operation: Palestinians prepare for Israeli military strikes

Scan 860 × 521 pixels

Transcribed from the clipping

Editor’s note: This story was reviewed by the Israeli military censor as required by the Israeli government, and deletions were made. GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza Strip residents hoarded food and thronged bakeries Friday, while Palestinian gunmen patrolled streets and blocked camp entrances with mounds of rubble ahead of an anticipated Israeli military strike.

Even as Israeli tanks massed on the borders of Gaza, Israeli TV's Channel 2 reported that Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer had decided to postpone the operation because of leaks about the army's plans to strike Gaza in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed 15 Israelis this week. Ben-Eliezer's adviser, Yarden Vatikai, would not confirm or deny the report.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, replying to a question about a possible incursion into Gaza, accused Israel of committing crimes against Palestinians. “Our people are steadfast and will continue with all their power to defend our holy cities, Christian and Muslim places,” he said at his West Bank headquarters.

In biblical Bethlehem, meanwhile, the 39-day standoff between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen at the Church of the Nativity ended Friday, with 13 suspected militants flown into European exile and 26 released into the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the aim of any military operation in Gaza would be “to reach points where we have had centers of terror in a very careful and measured way.”

In the West Bank town of Tulkarem, meanwhile, Israeli troops demolished a four-story building belonging to the family of a Hamas suicide bomber, Abdel Bassat Odeh, who blew himself up on March 27 in a hotel in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya.

Twenty-nine Israelis died in the attack that targeted diners assembled for the Passover Seder, the ritual meal that ushers in the weeklong Jewish holiday. The attack triggered Israel's West Bank offensive two days later. Israeli troops imposed a curfew on the neighborhood where Odeh lived and blew up his family's home, making 21 people homeless.

A three-story building next door was badly damaged and 50 residents had to leave it, Palestinian officials said.

How this transcription was made

No graphic physical detail was dwelt on; nothing required compression. Folio, kicker, headline, Editor's note and all four body columns read from 4x to 8x magnified crops. — The folio reads "Saturday, May 11, 2002". That matches Maria's label exactly, and 11 May 2002 was in fact a Saturday. The story's internal markers agree: events are dated "Friday", the day before. — This is the full visible text of the article on this scan; the column ends with "Palestinian officials said." at the foot of the page. — This sits at the head of the first column rather than under the headline — "Postponed operation:" in bold sans, then the summary in serif. It summarizes the story, so it is recorded as the deck; the separate line above the headline, "Middle East conflict: Struggle continues", is a section kicker and is recorded as such, not as a deck.

Cite this clipping

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