Army raids home of alleged attacker

Published yesterday (updated) 11/02/2010 03:08

 [MaanImages] Bethlehem – Ma'an –

Twenty-five Israeli military jeeps on Wednesday evening surrounded the Jenin-area home of a Palestinian police officer accused of killing an Israeli soldier near Nablus hours earlier.

The home of Muhammad Al-Khatib in the village of Ya'bad was placed under curfew as Israeli authorities questioned his relatives over allegations he attacked a soldier, the army said. Forces questioned Al-Khatib's mother and brothers, the family said.

The army also searched the home for "incriminating evidence," according to a military spokesman, after Al-Khatib allegedly stabbed a soldier through an open window of his military car while waiting at a traffic light near the Tappuh junction and the Za'tara checkpoint.

According to the military, the injured soldier lost consciousness whilst fleeing the scene and crashed into a nearby barrier. A military statement said an off-duty officer ran over Al-Khatib with his vehicle following the attack and soldiers thereafter detained him.

PA officials could not immediately confirm that Al-Khatib was a police officer.

Salam Fayyad, prime minister of the caretaker government in Ramallah, condemned the attack.

"An incident such as this goes against Palestinian national interests as well as the Palestinian Authority's efforts and the obligations it has taken upon itself," he said in a statement, adding that Palestinians remained committed to nonviolent resistance.

Earlier, the army said "A Palestinian terrorist stabbed an Israeli man in his vehicle at a traffic light at the Tappuah Junction. The terrorist took advantage of the fact that the man's window was open and stabbed [him]. The man continued driving until he lost consciousness."

It was later announced that the man was Non-Commissioned Officer Sergeant 1st Class Ihab Al-Khatib (incorrectly written by non-Arab Israelis as Chattib), a Palestinian Arab Durzi citizen of Israel. The Israeli Khatib died in a Tel Aviv hospital of wounds he sustained in the crash that followed the stabbing, military sources said.

Israeli Soldier Killed After Being Stabbed, the Attacker Was Injured by police

Wednesday February 10, 2010 16:23 by Ghassan Bannoura & Circare Parrhesia - IMEMC News & Agencies

An Israeli soldier was reported to have been stabbed & killed, on Wednesday at midday, when he was attacked by a Palestinian man in northern West Bank.

Israeli sources said that the man was driving his jeep when he stopped near a military checkpoint known to Palestinians as Za’atara checkpoint. The soldier, named Ihab Al-Khatib, then was attacked with a knife by a Palestinian man.

The Israeli military have identified the attacker as Muhammad Al-Khatib, a member of the Palestinian Authority's police force.

The soldier was announced dead at a hospital in Tel Aviv. Al-Khatib sustained injuries when a security guard from a nearby illegal settlement post ran him over with his car before the Israeli occupation soldiers arrived at the scene and detained the attacker.

The Israeli military did not issue any statement at the time of this report.

The Za’atara checkpoint is one of a over 500 Israeli military checkpoints and roadblocks across the West Bank. It separates northern West Bank areas from the central ones.

Following the killing of an Israeli soldier, Troops Kidnap Six Palestinians In Jenin

Thursday February 11, 2010 00:24 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Israeli occupation army invaded Al-Khiljan village, near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, and kidnapped six members of the Al-Khatib family, including four brothers. The invasion came after Mahmoud Al-Khatib reportedly killed an Israeli soldier on Wednesday.

Local sources reported that the army kidnapped Mohammad Iqab Al-Khatib, 38, and his brother Atef, 27.

Soldiers also kidnapped Mohammad Yousuf Al-Khatib, 27, and his brothers Ahmed, 20, Imad, 38, and Aseed, 17.

Troops ransacked the attacked homes and confiscated computers, pictures and documents.

The army imposed curfew on the village and invaded it after claiming that Mahmoud Al-Khatib stabbed an Israeli soldier to death on Wednesday south of Nablus.

The Maan News Agency reported that Mahmoud Al-Khatib, 33, who stabbed the soldier, is a Palestinian police officer. Soldiers broke into his home and interrogated his brothers.

The slain soldier is an Arab from Al-Maghar Druze village. He was identified as Ihab Al-Khatib.

Israeli Ynet News reported that the soldier, member of the Kfir Brigade, was stabbed to death at the Tapuach Junction in the occupied West Bank. The stabber was arrested on the scene.

The family of the slain soldier told Israeli Ynet news that his uncle, also a soldier with the Israeli army, was killed during a military attack in the Jordan valley ten years ago, and that his aunt was killed during the Lebanon war four years ago when her home was hit by a Katyusha rocket in the eastern Galilee area.

Palestinian Prime Minister, Dr. Salaam Fayyad, slammed the attack and stressed that his security forces will act to ensure similar attacked are prevented. Yet, the attack was carried out in an area controlled by the Israeli military.

Fayyad said that this attack contradicts the Palestinian national interests and the obligations of the Palestinian Authority.

He added that the Palestinians are united behind nonviolent resistance against the illegal Israeli Wall, settlements and the attacks carried out by fundamentalist settlers.

Fayyad further stated that violence harms the cause while nonviolent resistance enjoys international support.

Israeli Settler Security Guard Shoots Palestinian Teen in Northern West Bank

Wednesday February 10, 2010 09:36 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Local sources have reported that an 18-year old teenager from the Palestinian village of Iraq Burin, near Nablus, was shot by an Israeli security guard from the illegal Israeli settlement of Har Bracha, wounding him in the knee.

The incident took place after Israeli settlers and supporters who, were gathered on stolen Palestinian land in the settlement of Har Bracha called the settlement's security forces, reporting that Palestinians were throwing stones at them. The security forces responded by driving to the area in a sport utility vehicle and firing randomly.

The Israeli police who investigated the incident reported that around 15 settlers and their American and Canadian supporters had gathered near the edge of the settlement, and claimed that Palestinians threw stones toward them.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official, spoke with Israeli reporters about the repeated attacks by settlers against the villagers from Iraq Burin. He told the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahranoth, “This is a quiet village of no more than 1,200 residents who suffer from repetitive assaults by settlers, without the Israeli authorities doing anything to stop it.”

Daghlas added that after repeated attacks by the settlers, with no response by Israeli authorities, and no attempts to intervene, some Palestinian teens had recently begun to fight back with stones against the settlers' bullets.

The injured youth was not identified, and it remains unclear whether he was involved in throwing any stones, or if there was actually any stone throwing at all.