Israel evacuates West Bank base
Israeli forces today evacuated an old army base in the northern West Bank used last as a staging area for removing settlers and protesters from two settlements last month, but soldiers shot dead a young Palestinian who entered the base too quickly.
This morning, Allah Khamtouni, 19, and nine other Palestinians went into the Dotan base near the Palestinian town of Jenin, mistakenly thinking it had been abandoned, Palestinian officials said.
Israeli Colonel Shmulik Kalmi said Khamtouni ran into the base with a group of people. Soldiers fired warning shots in the air, but the infiltrators did not stop, he said.
Fearing the Palestinians might be planning a suicide bombing, the soldiers fired at Khamtouni’s legs, but he bent down as they fired, was hit in the shoulder and died, Kalmi said.
Both the Israeli army and the Palestinians said Khamtouni was unarmed.
This afternoon, the last troops left Dotan and Palestinians flooded in, grabbing what debris and construction materials they could, before Palestinian police opened fire on the scavengers, wounding three in the legs, witnesses said. About 60 uniformed police restored order.
The rundown base was retained as a staging post as part of Israel’s forced evacuation last month of the nearby Homesh and Sanur settlements. Settlers evacuated two other settlements voluntarily.
The pattern of Palestinians entering abandoned settlements on the heels of exiting Israeli soldiers was set last week, when Israel completed its pullout from all 21 Gaza settlements after levelling almost all the buildings in them.
Activity was divided between scavenging for usable materials among the ruins and celebrating the end of Israel’s 38-year occupation.
This week Israeli forces left after finishing their work in Homesh and Sanur, and Palestinians moved in, though Israel is not handing over the area to the Palestinians and plans to continue to send army patrols through.
The evacuation of the Dotan base was not part of the ”disengagement,” which dealt with evacuating the 25 settlements. In a statement, the military said with the evacuation of the base, Israeli forces have “completed their mission” in connection with the withdrawal.
In another development related to the pullout, Israel indicated it would speed up plans for reopening a vital Gaza crossing point.
Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told military officers he intends to reopen the Rafah border crossing in January, and from next week Palestinians would be able to use the new Kerem Shalom facility at the junction of the Israeli, Egyptian and Gaza borders, defence officials said.
Israel had said the Rafah crossing would be closed for six months for security and customs arrangements.
Israeli concerns escalated in the days after the pullout was completed, when thousands of people crossed the border unchecked, bringing large amounts of weapons and contraband into Gaza.
Palestinians insist on free access in and out of Gaza through Rafah with no Israeli presence, and have rejected the Kerem Shalom option.
Also today, an Israeli court convicted Abbas Sayad, the commander of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, of masterminding a March 2002 suicide bombing that killed 29 people at a Passover holiday meal at the Park Hotel in the Israeli resort city of Netanya.
