Bethlehem, Monday
HELICOPTER gunships fired nearly 20 missiles early on Monday into a West Bank refugee camp on the western edge of the city of Jenin, witnesses said.
The attack came after troops used loudspeakers to warn militants about the attack and urge them to surrender, wire services quoted witnesses as saying.
Workers at a hospital near the camp said that 18 or 19 missiles had been fired at the camp, where some of the most fierce fighting has occurred during Israel’s 11-day offensive in the West Bank.
The hospital workers said that Israeli troops took a wounded elderly man to the hospital during the missile attack.
The military would not comment on the fighting, but military sources said that about 150 men in the camp surrendered their weapons to soldiers shortly after midnight on Monday.
However, Jamal Abdel Salaam, a Hamas militant group leader inside the camp, said that the militants have not surrendered and were ready to fight to the death.
Meanwhile, Cyprus-Israeli relations nose-dived after a Cypriot parliamentary delegation, attempting to visit besieged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at his blockaded HQ, was sent packing on Sunday.
Cypriot MPs said the island’s good relations with Israel were now in doubt after they were kept at Ben Gurion airport for five hours and had their passports stamped ”denied entry”.
Many complained of being treated in a hostile manner and questioned like common criminals.
”It was the first time I ever felt psychologically terrorised,” said MP Androulla Vassiliou, wife of former Cyprus president George Vassiliou.
She was the only member of the 14-strong delegation travelling on a diplomatic passport.
Vassiliou told reporters on her return that the delegation was practically held captive at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, questioned at length and kept under police guard before being unceremoniously kicked out.
”This is an example of fascism and terrorism by the Sharon government,” said firebrand centre-right MP Marios Matsakis.
”We were not allowed into Israel but in Cyprus Mossad can do as they please,” he added, referring to the Israeli intelligence service.
Other politicians said the issue would be raised in parliament and the government would be called on to make an official protest.
So far, the government has declined to comment on the matter.
The decision to visit Arafat in person was passed unanimously by parliament on Thursday.
But at the same time the house approved a resolution condemning ”the genocide waged by the Sharon government against the Palestinian people … fanning hatred and killing any prospect for peace.”
It said Israel should withdraw from the Palestinian territories and end the ”provocative” siege of Arafat, whom it called ”the indisputable leader of his people who is in danger of physical and political extermination.”
Seen as a friend of both Israel and neighbouring Arab countries, Cyprus has often been touted as a neutral venue for Mideast peace talks and last week offered to ”play a role” in helping defuse the escalating violence, while pledging ”full solidarity” with Arafat. – Sapa-AFP