Israel expected to retaliate

By Ravi Nessman / The Associated Press

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EDITOR'S NOTE — This story was submitted to the Israeli military censor, who ordered significant deletions. JERUSALEM — Tanks were poised outside Gaza and Israel called up military reservists Thursday ahead of an expected retaliatory attack for Palestinian suicide bombings, even as a deal was reached to end the standoff at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

Palestinians arrested 16 members of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that claimed it carried out a deadly suicide attack earlier this week, a first sign that Yasser Arafat was taking action against terror groups. Tanks were parked off Gaza, the home base of the Hamas militant group, and Israeli forces around the strip were being beefed up Thursday night.

But Hamas leaders in Gaza — a sliver of Mediterranean coastline, two-thirds of which is under Palestinian autonomy — said they were going about life as usual. Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin went ahead with the afternoon wedding reception for one of his seven daughters, his son Mohammed said.

A Yassin deputy, university lecturer Mahmoud Zahar, said he was staying at home to prepare exams, and a Hamas spokesman, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, said his schedule was filled with TV interviews. Ready to fight back Mohammed Dahlan, Yasser Arafat's security chief in Gaza, said the Palestinians were expecting an attack.

“Everyone is prepared, and our people know how to confront the occupation,” said Dahlan, who has been in the West Bank town of Ramallah for months. “We said this before, and we mean it now — if the occupation forces carry out an aggression, we will face this aggression.”

The Israeli Cabinet on Thursday approved unspecified reprisals in response to Tuesday's bombing in a pool hall in a Tel Aviv suburb. Fifteen Israelis were killed in the attack, the deadliest since Israel launched its West Bank military offensive March 29 in response to a wave of bombings.

The reserve call-up was smaller than the one that preceded that operation, during which troops occupied six of the eight main Palestinian towns in the West Bank for periods of up to several weeks and fought battles with Palestinian gunmen. Limited operation?

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres hinted Israel might launch a more limited operation this time, “striking at centers from which the suicide attackers come, or the houses from which they come, or the nests from which the organization of suicide bombers comes.” Military sources said the operation will be centered on Gaza but may not be restricted to the strip.

The objective is to hit at Hamas leaders and end the sense of immunity the militants in Gaza have enjoyed, senior official sources said. Military commentators also said they expected the Gaza operation to be more limited than the West Bank offensive. Fighting in densely populated Gaza would be much more complicated and could expose troops to greater risks.

European Union envoy Miguel Moratinos condemned the suicide attack but said the EU is “very concerned” it could lead to increasing violence and a new military action. Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat criticized the expected operation. “Such an attack will lead to disastrous consequences for the Palestinian people there,” he said. “This will be adding fuel to the fire.”

How this transcription was made

Single scan, four columns of page 13A plus a two-column AP photograph. Transcribed from 10–16x crops of each column, and compared line by line against the Kingsport Times News version on slide 87. — Running head reads “THE FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER WORLD FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2002 13A.” Verified at 16x. Agrees with Maria's label.

Cite this clipping

"Israel expected to retaliate," The Fayetteville Observer, 10 May 2002, p. 13A. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2002-139. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2002-139