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Palestinian police: Israeli army in Bethlehem

Israeli tank
Israeli tanks in Palestinian-controlled areas in the West Bank on Thursday.  


BETHLEHEM, West Bank (CNN) -- More than 20 Israeli tanks entered this city early Friday, firing as they did, according to Palestinian police and witnesses.

Four people were wounded, Palestinian police and Red Crescent officials said.

Palestinian police officials said the tanks came in through several entrances and penetrated 300 meters into the city.

They said the AIDA Palestinian refugee camp has been taken over by an Israeli infantry unit.

Palestinian police said the Paradise Hotel and the Bethlehem Hotel were partially demolished by bulldozers and the owners of the establishments were arrested. The Intercontinental Hotel was taken over by the Israeli army, the officials said.

Tanks and armored personnel carriers drove over cars in the streets and caused a lot of damage, the Palestinian police said.

Israel Defense Forces refused to comment on the situation.

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The move, a senior Palestinian official said, would ban the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the group that claimed responsibility for Wednesday's assassination of Rehavam Zeevi, an Israeli Cabinet minister.

Israel Radio earlier reported the Palestinian Authority had outlawed the PFLP, which has consistently opposed Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's attempts to negotiate with Israel.

But the senior Palestinian official said the authority's decisions would leave in place the political wings of such groups as the PFLP.

Palestinian sources said the Palestinian Authority had arrested a number of PFLP members in Gaza and the West Bank.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave Arafat a week to arrest and hand over Zeevi's killers. The Sharon government cut off formal contact with the Palestinian Authority and said if it did not move against Zeevi's killers, Israel would consider it a terrorist organization.

In a separate incident Thursday, three Palestinians, including a man on Israel's most wanted list, were killed on the West Bank, Palestinian security sources said.

Palestinian security sources identified one of the victims as Atif Abayyat, a member of the Fatah military wing wanted by Israel, and blamed the explosion on Israeli forces.

A statement from Sharon's office said Israeli security officials believe Abayyat was killed in a "work accident" while preparing a car bomb for an attack inside Israel.

Israeli authorities claim Abayyat was responsible for a number of attacks on Israeli settlers that left at least five dead and four injured.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said the three people died when their car exploded in Beit Sahour near Bethlehem.

Saeb Erakat, chief Palestinian negotiator, told CNN the Palestinian Authority condemned the killing of Abayyat and the others as an act of state terror.

There were scattered acts of violence throughout the day Thursday.

A shooting attack near Jericho left one Israeli dead and two others injured, according to Israeli hospital sources.

Israel Defense Forces said Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Gilo from Beit Jala, damaging several homes. No injuries were reported.

Firefights broke out with Palestinian gunmen after Israeli tanks rolled into two areas of the West Bank earlier in the day. Two people were killed.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said they were a 10-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl on her way to class in Jenin and a 24-year-old Palestinian security officer in Ramallah.



 
 
 
 


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