Gaza City, Gaza Strip – Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday denounced a deadly Israeli arrest raid that killed five Palestinians, calling it an intentional provocation aimed at undermining a six-month cease-fire, but he urged militant groups to hold their fire.
Militants vowed to renew attacks on Israel, a move that would undercut the goodwill that resulted from an Israeli pullout from 25 Jewish settlements in Gaza and part of the West Bank.
Following Tuesday’s completion of the most important stage of the pullout – evacuating settlers – violence flared in three places.
A rocket fired from Lebanon exploded in an Israeli village just across the border Thursday, causing some damage but no casualties.
Late Wednesday, Israeli forces raided the Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank, killing five Palestinians, at least three of them armed. A few hours before that, a Palestinian stabbed two young Jewish men in the Old City of Jerusalem, killing one and seriously wounding the other.
Abbas blamed Israel for inciting the sudden escalation with its deadly raid in Tulkarem.
“This murder intentionally aims at renewing the vicious cycle of violence,” he said.
Raanan Gissin, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, responded that the Palestinians have failed to control militants. “We have transferred authority over this city of Tulkarem and the surrounding villages to the Palestinian Authority, and over a period of about three months, no action has been taken,” Gissin said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the department was still trying to get a clear picture of what happened in Tulkarem but stressed, “Israel has a right to defend itself.”
Since Abbas and Sharon declared a cease-fire in February, the number of violent incidents plunged. However, both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have carried out attacks, claiming they were responding to Israeli violations.
Islamic Jihad sent a suicide bomber into Tel Aviv in February and another into Netanya in July. Five Israelis were killed in each attack. The cell’s leadership was traced to the Tulkarem area, and Israel has been hunting its members, claiming that even under the truce, it has the right to take defensive measures.
