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Blindfolded Palestinian men are held under arrest by Israeli soldiers in Beit Jala on Monday
Tanks, troops storm Bethlehem again
By Nazir Majally, Arab News Staff


OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 28 May — Helmeted and weighed down by their bullet-proof armor, Israeli soldiers backed by dozens of tanks reoccupied Bethlehem yesterday and declared the West Bank town a "closed military zone," and a suspected Palestinian bomber killed himself and one child and injured up to 27 people when he blew himself up in a shopping parade in a Tel Aviv suburb later in the day.

At least 27 people were wounded, including a baby, when the bomber detonated his explosive device in the open mall, according to initial estimates by medical rescue teams. Israeli media said as many as 50 were hurt in the first such attack on the town, just northwest of Tel Aviv, and the first successful bombing in Israel since a kamikaze killed two people, plus himself, in Rishon Letsion, a suburb to the south of the coastal city, on May 22.

The attack came just hours after Israeli forces stormed Bethlehem in search of activists and netted one of the most wanted Palestinian suspects. Dozens of Palestinians were seized as troops and about armored vehicles moved into Bethlehem before dawn, taking up positions across the town, including around the Church of the Nativity, scene of a five-week siege which ended on May 10.

Palestinian security sources said Ahmed Moghrabi, Bethlehem head of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement at the forefront of anti-Israeli attacks, had been arrested, as well as the sister of a bomber who killed two Israelis in a Jerusalem supermarket on March 29.

About 20 people were held as troops, accompanied by agents from the Shin Beth internal security agency, made house searches in the town and the nearby refugee camp of Dheisheh, herding around 500 men for identity checks.

Another two wanted Al-Aqsa men were seized, including Ali Youssef Ahmed Moghrabi, 16, Ahmed’s brother. The men are accused by Israel of organizing the attack by a 16-year-old — the youngest bomber ever — that killed two Israelis last Wednesday in a Tel Aviv suburb.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Arafat feared a renewed Israeli occupation of Ramallah, the scene of heavy clashes in last month’s invasion which left the Palestinian leader under siege for a month. Palestinian security sources said the army had declared the whole of Bethlehem a "closed military zone" off limits to the press, and slapped a curfew on the town to prevent activists again seeking sanctuary in the Nativity Church. Bethlehem was sealed off by roadblocks installed on all main access routes into the city and soldiers prevented people from entering.

The re-occupation came as US Secretary of State Colin Powell tried to temper President George W. Bush’s remarks that Arafat had "let his people down", saying the Palestinian leader "could do better."

Bush accused Arafat on Sunday of "letting his people down," but Powell moved to contain the fallout of his chief’s words, which were instantly condemned by the Palestinians as "unacceptable."


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