Israeli raids mark new chapter in Mideast violence

Israeli army field commanders were today given permission to send troops into Palestinian areas without waiting for a go-ahead from superiors, after the first large-scale incursion into a West Bank town in seven months of fighting.

In the past, government approval was required for such forays, which have been sharply criticised by the US administration.

In the West Bank town of Tulkarem today, a 55-year-old Palestinian teacher died of wounds sustained when Israeli tanks shelled his neighbourhood during a heavy exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen overnight. Six Palestinians were wounded.

An explosion went off as an ambulance taking the critically wounded teacher from Tulkarem to a hospital in the nearby town of Nablus, and the ambulance driver was injured by shattered glass. The cause of the blast was not immediately known.

The Palestinian governor of Tulkarem, Izzedine Sharif, said Israeli troops briefly entered Palestinian territory during the two-hour firefight, but were repelled by Palestinian gunmen.

The army denied troops entered Palestinian areas, saying army bulldozers razed a Palestinian police station on the outskirts of Tulkarem.

Sunday’s incursion into the West Bank town of Beit Jalla came in response to shots fired at an Israeli army post near the West Bank’s main north-south road which links Jewish settlements with Jerusalem.

In response, Israeli tanks rolled into Beit Jalla and shelled houses with artillery as they pursued Palestinian gunmen.

Palestinian militiaman Mohammed Abayad was killed in the firefight on Jerusalem’s southern fringes. Twenty people were injured, including a five-year-old boy who remained in a critical condition with a severe arm injury.

Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said he has given field commanders the authority to decide whether to enter Palestinian territory, which is known as Area A.

‘‘There are operations about which a brigade or a battalion commander needs to make immediate decisions, even if there is a necessity to enter Area A,’’ Ben-Eliezer said. ‘‘In principle, I have approved any entry into Area A if that is necessary to guarantee our security.’’

Sharif, the Tulkarem governor, said such incursions would draw a harsh Palestinian response.

‘‘We will not allow them to enter Area A, whatever the price,’’ Sharif said. ‘‘We will resist with all the weapons at our disposal.’’

Palestinian gunmen have repeatedly fired from Palestinian-controlled areas at Israeli troops and civilians since the fighting began.

Israeli undercover troops have secretly gone into Palestinian areas in the West Bank from time to time in recent months to arrest suspected militants, but Sunday marked the first time troops openly raided a West Bank town.

In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army carried out a number of raids in response to Palestinian mortar fire, including one in which bulldozers razed more than two dozen homes in a Palestinian refugee camp last month.

On Monday, mortar shells were fired toward the Jewish settlement of Atzmona in the Gaza Strip. There were no injuries.