Militants retaliate for Gaza killing
The Islamic Jihad commander Mohammed Shehadeh was buried yesterday in Bethlehem along with three other gunmen killed in the raid on Wednesday.
The bodies of Shehadeh and another militant were wrapped in Hezbollah flags, and dozens of mourners chanted support for the Lebanese guerrilla group.
A dozen rockets and three mortars were fired late Wednesday and early yesterday, Israeli security forces said. Two rockets struck a warehouse and soccer stadium in the Israeli town of Sderot; no one was injured.
Israeli aircraft struck a loaded rocket launcher yesterday, but no Palestinian injuries were reported. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Israel would keep pursuing militants.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel yesterday of “ethnic cleansing” in Arab East Jerusalem.
At a summit of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, in Dakar, Senegal, he said: “Our people in the city [Jerusalem] are facing an ethnic cleansing campaign through a set of Israeli decisions such as imposing heavy taxes, banning construction and closing Palestinian institutions, in addition to separating the city from the West Bank by the racist separation wall.
“What is taking place... is in total violation of [the peace process].”
A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert condemned Abbas’s comments as inflammatory.
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