VARIOUS: Violence and unrest continue across West Bank and Gaza despite Israel-Hizbollah ceasefire

Calm began returning to areas in northern Israel after a five-day-old ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah which has mostly held. But the scene in the Palestinian territories was very different on Friday (August 18) as unrest continued. Violence has been on going in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian militants after a standoff near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Palestinian witnesses said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said two Islamic Jihad gunmen were shot and killed when they resisted arrest and shot at troops from within a cave where they were hiding. Earlier, an Israeli air strike destroyed a building in the Gaza Strip where the army said militants were making rockets, wounding at least one. An Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip aims to recover a captured soldier and put a stop to cross-border rocket fire. Nearly 180 Palestinians, about half of them militants, have been killed. Several Hamas members including the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Aziz Dweik have also been arrested over the last month by Israel. Dweik is still under Israeli custody. Several other Hamas cabinet ministers and lawmakers also still remain behind bars. Thousands of Hamas members took to the streets of Gaza City on Friday to rally in support of their release. "The people and children of Palestine are participating in this demonstration in northern Gaza to ensure the justice of all of our prisoners' cases and to work on the release of all prisoners and first and foremost the Palestinian government members who are being held and the prisoners of the Legislative Council and above all the symbol of the Palestinian people Dr. Aziz Dweik. The Israeli soldier will not be release until all our prisoners are freed," said senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan as he attended the demonstration. Rayan referred to kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was seized by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid on June 25. Shalit has not been released and little information on his fate has emerged. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, addressing crowds at a mosque in Gaza City on Friday, called the arrests of Palestinian government members by Israel a violation and has called on the immediate release of all detained Hamas ministers and lawmakers. Haniyeh, who attended Friday prayers in Gaza, said Israel needed to act swiftly in ensuring their release and threatened not to release any information on negotiations to form a coalition Palestinian government until all prisoners were released by Israel. "We are very ashamed of this inhumane treatment of our brother Dr. Aziz Dweik, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council which reflects all Israel's inhumane measures and we assure our immediate demand for the release of Dr. Aziz Dweik, symbol of the elected Palestinian Legislature and all the government ministers and deputies. Also, I would like to assure that the unity government that we have agreed with the president to start negotiations in its regards, but it will not be publicly announced until the release of all the ministers and deputies and above all the head of the Palestine Legislative Council brother Dr. Aziz Dweik," Haniyeh said. Aziz was arrested at his Ramallah home on August 5. Meanwhile also on Friday, hundreds of anti-barrier protesters gathered at the West Bank town of Beilin to rally against the continued construction of a barrier built by Israel to separate the Jewish state from the West Bank. The demonstration is a weekly event which attracts hundreds of Palestinians and foreign sympathiser who call on Israel to tear down its barrier which will eventually completely cut off the West Bank from Israel. Clashes broke out on Friday and several demonstrators were arrested. Clashes often break out between police and demonstrators in Beilin at the weekly rallies held each Friday. The rallies aim to highlight the building of a 685 kilometre barrier which Palestinians say will annex 8 percent of the West Bank and take away vital agricultural land from some 1,700 residents living in Beilin.

ITN Source | August 20, 2006

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