In the early morning hours today, some twenty IDF tanks rolled into the PLO-controlled city of Jenin - which the Israeli media is now calling “Suicide Central” - and destroyed a building used by the PA police. IDF bulldozers carried out the work in the heart of the city, while ground forces and combat helicopters provided cover.
Heavy fire was directed at the IDF, but no injuries were reported. The IDF spokesman says that due to the area being heavily populated by civilians, soldiers did not return fire. The strike came in response to the suicide bombing in Haifa, which was directed by terrorist cells in Jenin.
The IDF forces withdrew from the city after a successful operation. This morning, however, there were victory celebrations in Jenin, after the Arab media reported that the IDF troops were forced out by the “heroic resistance” put up by PLO fighters.
Following the IDF’s retaliation in Jenin, Oslo architect and former Justice Minister MK Yossi Beilin (Labor) accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of returning to his familiar tactics of fifty years ago, “destroying what Peres and the peace camp built over the past decade.” Beilin called upon Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to leave the national unity coalition government.
Heavy fire was directed at the IDF, but no injuries were reported. The IDF spokesman says that due to the area being heavily populated by civilians, soldiers did not return fire. The strike came in response to the suicide bombing in Haifa, which was directed by terrorist cells in Jenin.
The IDF forces withdrew from the city after a successful operation. This morning, however, there were victory celebrations in Jenin, after the Arab media reported that the IDF troops were forced out by the “heroic resistance” put up by PLO fighters.
Following the IDF’s retaliation in Jenin, Oslo architect and former Justice Minister MK Yossi Beilin (Labor) accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of returning to his familiar tactics of fifty years ago, “destroying what Peres and the peace camp built over the past decade.” Beilin called upon Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to leave the national unity coalition government.