BEIT JALA, West Bank, Aug 28, 01 (CWNews.com) - Israeli tanks rumbled in the West Bank town of Beit Jala early Tuesday morning following an all-night battle with Palestinians, occupying the mainly Christian village.
Beit Jala had been under Palestinian control since 1995, but Israeli soldiers entered the town after a battle with Palestinian gunmen who had been shooting across a shallow valley at Gilo, a Jewish settlement in a suburb of Jerusalem. A Palestinian security officer was killed and seven people were wounded in the fighting, which followed more than a week of calm in the area. The shooting into Gilo was thought to be in retaliation for the killing of Abu Ali Mustafa, head of a radical Palestinian faction.
Brigadier General Gershon Yitzhak, Israeli commander in the West Bank, denied the army had entered holy places in Beit Jala. But sand bags, army netting, and blankets were placed in the Evangelical Lutheran church, as well as several Palestinian houses and a girls' school. The town's Christian community center was also transformed into an army base of operations.
Catholic World News Service - Daily News Briefs
28. august 2001