Israel raids homes as withdrawal talks stall
Israeli troops demolished the homes of four Palestinian terror suspects and raided a Gaza Strip town today, as talks stalled on the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from some Palestinian areas.
In the Gaza town of Beit Lahia, hundreds of children and teenagers threw stones at four Israeli tanks blocking the main road.
Soldiers fired from a tank-mounted machine gun to drive back the crowd, wounding five people, including a teenager who slumped to the ground after being shot in the head.
In the West Bank, troops destroyed four homes - two belonging to suicide bombers, one to a man who supplied explosives for an attack and a fourth to a suspected bombing mastermind.
The demolitions brought to 18 the number of houses demolished since Israel revived its controversial policy last month.
Human rights groups say house demolitions are collective punishment and violate international law. Israel says the demolitions provide an important deterrent against terror attacks.
In Gaza, Israeli tanks and armoured cars rumbled deeper into Beit Lahia for a second night in a row, firing machine guns and at least one shell to knock out the electric transformer, Palestinian officials and residents said.
Troops conducted house-to-house searches, said Beit Lahiya mayor Mohammed al-Masri. There were no reports of injuries today. An incursion in the same area early yesterday killed one Palestinian policemen.
Bulldozers also uprooted hundreds of trees and destroyed crops in the outlying areas, according to reporters at the scene.
Intissar Abu Radi, 45, lost her small cucumber farm in the incursion.
‘‘I don’t know why they are coming here. They stole all our land and we still have this little piece of land on which to survive. They are saying that they don’t want resistance. Do they expect our people will welcome the reoccupation with flowers?’’ she said.
The Gaza incursion came as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators tried to reach agreement on an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian-ruled areas in the strip and from at least one West Bank town.
A four-hour meeting broke up early today without a deal but more talks were to be held next week, officials said.
At present, Israeli troops occupy seven of the eight major West Bank towns and cities.
Since the outbreak of fighting in September 2000, Israeli soldiers have also taken up many positions in Palestinian-run areas of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer earlier this week proposed a gradual pullback, on condition that the Palestinians make an effort to rein in militants in territories being returned to them.
Israeli Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh said the talks stalled over a Palestinian demand that the West Bank town of Ramallah, the temporary seat of the Palestinian government, be included in the first phase of a pullback.
Israel rejected the demand, arguing that troops could not leave Ramallah for now because it was a militant stronghold.
