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Israeli tanks move in
©Washington Post
© St. Petersburg Times, BEIT JALA, West Bank -- It was shortly after 1:30 a.m. Tuesday when Israeli tanks roared out of the darkness onto Beit Jala's Virgin Mary Street. They took up positions in front of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation and paratroopers rushed to the church doors. Inside, the director of the church's German-funded home for orphaned and destitute boys herded 45 frightened children -- the youngest 6 years old -- into the basement laundry room. "The soldiers pounded on the door trying to break in," said Khadr Musalem, the director. "After they entered, they took the key and kept it. I argued it was the church's key, but they took it by force." The troops swept on to the upper floors of the orphanage, using it as a firing base for heavy machine guns, and occupied other strategic sites around a large swath of Beit Jala, a largely Christian Palestinian town just south of Jerusalem. They were still there Tuesday evening after a day of sporadic and occasionally fierce fighting, crossing another red line in the 11-month-old Palestinian uprising. Israeli officials said they would remain as long as necessary to stop the Palestinian gunfire repeatedly directed from Beit Jala across a little valley toward Gilo, a Jewish neighborhood built on land captured in 1967 on the southern outskirts of the Israeli capital. Israeli incursions into West Bank and Gaza territory turned over to the Palestinians since the 1993 Oslo accords have grown frequent in recent months. But they've also been brief -- a few hours, typically, to level some houses or offices and fire at Palestinian security outposts. The pattern was set April 17 when Israeli forces moved into a Palestinian-controlled section of Gaza. Initially they announced they might stay indefinitely. After Secretary of State Colin Powell denounced the move, they quickly pulled back. Powell remained silent this time. But the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, urged Israel to withdraw, saying such incursions "only make matters worse." Boucher also urged Palestinians to stop shooting at Israelis "in Gilo and elsewhere." But it was unclear the Israelis would withdraw as swiftly as they did in April, particularly since three mortar rounds were fired late Tuesday night at Gilo. Even if the troops do eventually leave, Tuesday's reoccupation of Beit Jala seemed to signal yet another intensification of a bloody conflict that goes beyond previous milestones of escalation with dangerous regularity. Israel's invasion of Beit Jala was fraught with peril for both sides. For the Israelis, the danger was primarily diplomatic: The British, Chinese, Egyptian and other governments issued immediate condemnations. For the Palestinians, the incursion was a sign that they could forfeit precious territory gained by negotiations in the past seven years if they continue to press their armed uprising. About two-thirds of Beit Jala's 12,500 Palestinian residents are Christians -- the town is just 2 miles from Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, considered the birthplace of Jesus -- and few have been involved in the Palestinian uprising that has raged since Sept. 29. But the town has nonetheless been a flash point because Palestinian gunmen from outside have entered Beit Jala, using it as an occasional firing base -- to the displeasure of many of the town's residents. The gunmen's target has been Gilo, which was built on land that Israel annexed after the 1967 Middle East war. The annexation of that neighborhood and other formerly Arab parts of Jerusalem has never been recognized internationally, but Israel considers the neighborhood an integral part of its capital. Israelis have been infuriated by the shooting attacks on Gilo from Beit Jala, several of which have caused casualties. Government spokesmen routinely note that Americans would never permit repeated sniper attacks on Washington, D.C., without retaliating. Following a burst of Palestinian sniping from Beit Jala a week ago, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatened to invade if "one more bullet" was fired at Gilo from Beit Jala's winding streets and stone-faced houses. That bullet, and many more, were fired starting Monday evening after Israel assassinated Mustafa Zibri, 64, a senior Palestinian political leader who Israel said was a master terrorist. The killing of Zibri, who was hit by two missiles fired by helicopter gunships into his office Monday morning, triggered Palestinian calls for revenge and a wave of violence around Gaza and the West Bank, including an hourslong gun battle between Palestinians in Beit Jala and Israeli troops in Gilo. A 58-year-old Jewish resident of Gilo was hit by a bullet as he stood on his porch and was listed in moderate condition. True to Sharon's word, Israeli troops, tanks, armored vehicles and bulldozers rolled into Beit Jala around 1 a.m., supported by helicopters that beat the sky until well after dawn. "We were forced to act, after months of restraint, in order to put a partition between the innocent citizens of Gilo and the threat they faced," said Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Gershon, a senior Israeli commander in the West Bank. He said the soldiers will occupy Beit Jala "as long as is necessary to fight against the Palestinian terrorists." Sharon, in a newspaper interview, dismissed the idea that assassinating top Palestinian political leaders would feed the flames of violence. "Everything's burning anyway," he told Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth. Nonetheless, Israeli security forces shifted to top alert after Zibri's killing, barring Jewish settlers from using several roads in the West Bank and allowing them on others only in army-escorted convoys. The Israeli troops faced scattered resistance but no real difficulty in capturing the heart of Beit Jala. Later in the day, they fought brief gunbattles against Palestinians in the nearby Aida refugee camp. One Palestinian was shot dead; no Israeli casualties were reported. The soldiers pounded on doors and shot in the air, keeping most of the town's residents cowering indoors. Using armored bulldozers, they leveled a number of houses and hillocks that Israeli officers said had been used to shelter Palestinian gunmen. Troops stormed five buildings that the officers said had been used as Palestinian firing positions. Armored vehicles rolled through the dark streets, plowing into at least one parked car and leaving it a crumpled mess. Before dawn, Israeli troops imposed a curfew requiring all residents to remain indoors. "It was terrifying but they did not shoot at people or houses," said Bashir Rabiya, 49, a cook. "But this is our town and we want them out of here." Munib Younan, the Lutheran bishop in Jerusalem, denounced Israel's seizure of the church's property and demanded an immediate withdrawal. In a news release, he said that Palestinian gunmen never used the church complex as a firing base but that Israeli troops were doing exactly that. Musalem, director of the Lutheran orphanage, said the Christian and Muslim children under his care were huddled downstairs, playing for most of the day, while the Israelis staked out firing bays on the upper floors. "They know the kids can make a good human shield," he said.
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