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Israel confirms kidnapping of soldiers on Lebanese border |
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October 8, 2000
NABLUS (AP) - Israel confirmed the capture of three soldiers by Lebanese guerrillas on Saturday and promised "forceful action" as Israel-Arab violence spread to a new front. The developments came just hours after Israel withdrew from a West Bank enclave in its first such capitulation to Palestinians. "The Israel Defense Forces will make every effort to find the kidnapped soldiers and bring them home," the army said in a statement. Prime Minister Ehud Barak called on Syria and Lebanon "to cease the hostile activity on the border forthwith and impose their authority on the organizations operating there." The prime minister told the army to "take forceful action to ensure the security of the northern settlements and soldiers," Barak's statement said. Lebanese security officials said the guerrillas had captured three Israeli soldiers during an artillery exchange between Israel and the Lebanese guerrillas. Israel radio reported that parts of the road along the northern border were closed. It said three Israeli soldiers were injured in the fighting. Earlier, hundreds of rock-throwing Lebanese protesters tried to break down the Israeli-Lebanese border fence at another part of the border. Israeli troops opened fire, killing one demonstrator and wounding 14, two seriously, Lebanese officials said. It was the bloodiest confrontation along the Israeli-Lebanese border since Israel ended its 18-year occupation of south Lebanon in May. Barak was to meet with his senior defense staff and then with his Cabinet later Saturday. Israel television reported that his top officers were advising him that the Palestinians "are no longer a partner" and that the army should be permitted to use stronger means to quell the disturbances. Until now, it has used assault rifles, snipers and rockets launched from helicopters. Israel has trained tank guns on Palestinian towns as a warning, but has not fired. "If we have to, we will fight on two fronts," said Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, a top adviser to Barak. "We have enough strength for that. We shall have to be less restrained than we were in the past." Violence across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, sparked by a visit by hard-line opposition leader Ariel Sharon to a Jerusalem shrine holy to Muslims and Jews, has so far claimed 80 lives, most Palestinian. Two Palestinians died early Saturday of injuries sustained in clashes with Israeli soldiers Friday, but no new gun battles were reported. In the West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian gunmen and civilians stormed an Israeli enclave, ripping apart sacred Hebrew texts - including prayer books and bible commentaries - and setting fire to parts of the compound in a show of triumph, just hours after Israeli troops evacuated the site. The predawn evacuation of the enclave in Nablus ordered by Barak was the first time Israeli relinquished territory as a direct result of Palestinian violence. One Israeli soldier was shot and wounded during the evacuation. "We consider this a big victory," said Ali Farraj, a local Palestinian leader. "It cost us a lot of blood." Six Palestinians and an Israeli border policeman were killed in a week of daily gun battles at the site. Sneh said that Joseph's Tomb was simply not worth holding any longer, and had become a liability. "The question is, what interest did we ever have there?" he said. "Over the years, the army has protected a small, marginal group that wanted to use this site as a foothold for settlement in Nablus, that is the honest truth." Still, senior Israeli officials were furious with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for failing to protect the site. "It went beyond any limit I can imagine," said Brig. Gen. Benny Ganz, the Israeli commander in the West Bank. "Joseph's Tomb is not a military post, it's a holy place ... it was an arrangement with our so-called partners, that they will take their responsibilities, which they didn't." An Israeli border policeman bled to death inside the compound last weekend, after Palestinian gunmen barred Israeli medics from reaching the compound for several hours. In announcing the evacuation, the army said Barak had extracted promises that Palestinian authorities would protect the site, which was home to a Jewish seminary where about 30 students studied during the day. The students have been barred from the site since gun battles began last weekend. The trashing of the Joseph's Tomb compound was likely to contribute to Barak's increasing political isolation, and make it harder for him to negotiate a peace deal. Barak was weakened politically by far-reaching proposals he made to Palestinians at the U.S.-sponsored talks at Camp David, in July. "This is an embarrassing capitulation of the prime minister," said Danny Naveh, a legislator with the opposition Likud party. "It is a surrender to Palestinian violence, and the state of Israel will pay a heavy price for it." Scattered clashes continued Saturday. In Hebron, the site of another tiny Jewish enclave, troops faced down stonethrowers with rubber bullets, injuring five. In Madrid attending a conference, Arafat described the Israeli evacuation of Joseph's Tomb as "a good step." A Palestinian spokeswoman said the hope was that the evacuation signaled a new Israeli approach - one that could lead to the resumption of peace talks. "Pulling out from areas of confrontation and preventing direct provocation would also put an end to clashes and conflict," Hanan Ashrawi told The Associated Press. "So, I hope that this is a precedent and that they will pull out from all areas in the Palestinian territories because that is the only way to end the conflict."
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