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Jericho raid sparks attacks on British, U.S. assets in Gaza
Palestinian militants set fire to the British Council offices in Gaza on Tuesday as part of protests over the Israel Defense Forces operation at a jail in the West Bank city of Jericho, for which Palestinian leaders held the U.S. and Britain responsible.
Footage aired by the British Sky News satellite channel showed armed gunmen, some masked, entering the British Council compound and opening fire. A man could also be seen attacking the interior of the building with a wooden pole as a car burned nearby.
The gunmen and police exchanged fire near the center as troops tried to prevent hundreds of protesters from reaching the building.
Elsewhere in Gaza, militants stormed the building of a
U.S.-based educational organization, a witness said.
The militants entered the building, operated by America Mideast Educational and Training Services (AMIDEAST), and caused minor damage, the witness said.
Meanwhile, spokesman of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant group called on all American and British nationals to leave the Palestinian territories within two hours, to avoid being abducted and being exposed to other threats.
Members of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine militant group also warned they would attack foreign embassies if their leader Ahmed Saadat is killed in the IDF's operation in Jericho.
"We don't want to see any Americans here," one of the gunmen shouted when Palestinian police approached the AMIDEAST office.
Later, some 300 Palestinians led by gunmen marched toward the British cultural center. Palestinian police surrounded the office and tried to keep the crowd away. Both sides fired in the air, and then exchanged fire, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said earlier Tuesday that Britain and the United States bore "full responsibility" for the IDF raid.
"The American and the British side bear full responsibility for any harm to the lives" of the prisoners, including Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmed Saadat, Abbas said in a statement
released by his office Tuesday.
The IDF raid was preceded by the departure of the British and American monitors supervising the internment of Saadat and four other PFLP members jailed for their involvement in the 2001 killing of Israeli minister Rehavam Ze'evi.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/694091.html
The gunmen and police exchanged fire near the center as troops tried to prevent hundreds of protesters from reaching the building.
Elsewhere in Gaza, militants stormed the building of a
U.S.-based educational organization, a witness said.
The militants entered the building, operated by America Mideast Educational and Training Services (AMIDEAST), and caused minor damage, the witness said.
Meanwhile, spokesman of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant group called on all American and British nationals to leave the Palestinian territories within two hours, to avoid being abducted and being exposed to other threats.
Members of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine militant group also warned they would attack foreign embassies if their leader Ahmed Saadat is killed in the IDF's operation in Jericho.
"We don't want to see any Americans here," one of the gunmen shouted when Palestinian police approached the AMIDEAST office.
Later, some 300 Palestinians led by gunmen marched toward the British cultural center. Palestinian police surrounded the office and tried to keep the crowd away. Both sides fired in the air, and then exchanged fire, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said earlier Tuesday that Britain and the United States bore "full responsibility" for the IDF raid.
"The American and the British side bear full responsibility for any harm to the lives" of the prisoners, including Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmed Saadat, Abbas said in a statement
released by his office Tuesday.
The IDF raid was preceded by the departure of the British and American monitors supervising the internment of Saadat and four other PFLP members jailed for their involvement in the 2001 killing of Israeli minister Rehavam Ze'evi.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/694091.html
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The angry demonstrators, chanting "death to the Americans, death to the British", set the Council office ablaze and stormed the EU Commission office.
The protests came after Israeli forces smashed their way into a prison in Jericho, following the withdrawal of British and American monitors from their posts.
Foreign Office sources said the UK had contacted the office of the Palestinian President four times since Friday to ask him to "allay our security concerns for the welfare of our monitors".
When the President's office failed to respond, the decision to withdraw the monitors was taken "because we have a duty of care for our monitors" , said the sources.
The monitors are there under an agreement brokered in 2002, to observe conditions in the jail, but the Foreign Office stressed the welfare and security of the prisoners was entirely a matter for the Palestinian Authority.
Those held in the prison include the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmed Saadat, said to be the mastermind behind the assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister in 2001.
Some prisoners were eventually marched out of the jail by Israeli forces, but others remained defiant inside, including Saadat.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said "the American and the British side bear full responsibility for any harm to the lives" of the prisoners.
He said the decision by the UK and US monitors to withdraw "is a grave violation of agreements reached in 2002".
As protesters rampaged through Gaza City, the Foreign Office also warned Britons to stay away from Jericho. Britons are already told not to travel to the Gaza Strip.
Israel said it mounted the raid because the foreign monitors had been withdrawn and blamed the Palestinians for breaching agreements about the prisoners' custody.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "It has been confirmed that there are no local or UK staff in the British Council offices. They were escorted out much earlier."
As TV pictures showed flames within the building and gunmen outside, the spokesman added: "The Palestinian security forces are in attendance but the pictures speak for themselves."
The Foreign Office said that Britain repeatedly warned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that it would withdraw its monitors from the prison.
"It's quite clear that the security of that prison and the security of the monitors was the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority. We made clear to them what we expected them to do, we gave them a warning."
Mr Straw announced the decision to withdraw the monitors in a written Commons statement today.
Read More
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article351240.ece
Chris McGreal Jericho
Wednesday March 15, 2006
The Guardian
Britain was accused of colluding with an Israeli military assault on a Palestinian jail yesterday that prompted the widespread kidnapping of foreigners in the occupied territories and the sacking of UK and EU offices.
The army's day-long siege of Jericho prison ended with the surrender of five men accused by Israel of the 2001 assassination of a cabinet minister, Rehavam Zeevi, in Jerusalem. Last night it was believed three foreigners were still being held by Palestinian armed groups.
Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and four other members have been held for the past four years in Jericho under British and American supervision.
The UK pulled its monitors out early yesterday, saying it feared for their security. The US had no officials in Jericho at the time. The Israeli military then attacked the jail, saying it wanted to prevent a Hamas government from carrying out a pledge to release the wanted men.
Israeli forces hit Jericho prison with tank shells and missiles fired from helicopters before smashing through its walls with armoured bulldozers. A policeman and a prisoner were killed in the assault.
More
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1731124,00.html
Even before the dramatic events at Jericho prison in the West Bank, Britain's support for the Palestinian Authority had been strained by Gaza's gradual descent into chaos before the Palestinian elections and by the election of the extremist Hamas.
Kidnappings - including the abduction of the British aid worker Kate Burton and her parents in December - blood feuds and violence linked to the non-payment of wages meant the number of international staff remaining in Gaza had declined to only a few dozen in the past year.
European Union monitors manning an international checkpoint in Gaza following the withdrawal of Israel from Gaza last year have fled their posts on at least one occasion. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, told MPs last night in an emergency statement that the Foreign Office was warning against all travel to Gaza and the West Bank.
Mr Straw watched appalled yesterday as television news showed film of the British cultural centre in Gaza on fire. He revealed that he had ordered the monitors to be withdrawn because he feared for their safety after the threat against British nationals increased since the election of Hamas in January.
More
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article351364.ece
Commentators accuse the British and Americans of "collusion" with Israel and believe this seriously compromises any efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.
Headline in Palestinian Al-Hayat al-Jadidah
Occupation forces kidnap Saadat and dozens of wanted men and security personnel with Anglo-American collusion.
Headline in Palestinian Al-Ayyam
[Israeli Defence Minister Shaul] Mofaz admits there was week-long British-Israeli coordination to overrun Jericho prison - He confirmed that Israel had prior knowledge the monitors would be pulled out.
Editorial in Palestinian Al-Quds
Britain, in coordination with the US, has repeated its collusion with Israel, the same behaviour it implemented for the first time in May 1948 when its forces pulled out from Palestine and handed over bases and arms depots to the Jewish militias... Yesterday, the British and US governments made lame excuses for pulling out the monitors from the Jericho prison.
Comment in Al-Hayat al-Jadidah
It had been agreed that the brothers would be held under British and US supervision until there was a decision on them. The withdrawal of the British and US guards cannot be excused in any way. The allegation by the British foreign ministry spokesman that they were pulled out in coordination with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is an attempt to divide Palestinian ranks. This is a crime by all moral, legal, security and political standards.
Commentary in Al-Hayat al-Jadidah
It was a scandal for Great Britain - the mother of Israel - and the US because they were deeply involved in the conspiracy and underline everyday their enmity to the Palestinian people.
Comment in Syria's Tishrin
Yesterday's events are regrettably piracy par excellence which took place with American-British collusion.
Columnist in Lebanon's Al-Nahar
If yesterday's action in Jericho with clear American-British involvement was not to eliminate the Palestinian Authority, then what was it? A preemptive strike against any government Hamas may form.
Editorial in Egypt's Al-Ahram
The operation represents a dangerous escalation of the situation. The USA and Britain must assume responsibility.
Editorial in Egypt's Al-Jumhuriyah
The Israeli piracy was no surprise to anyone. But the surprise lay in the disgraceful connivance by the American and British forces in charge of guarding and monitoring the prison in accordance with an international agreement.
Editorial in Saudi Arabia's Al-Riyad
Premeditated collusion between Britain and America on the one hand and Israel on the other.
Editorial in Qatar's Al-Watan
The main responsibility falls on the USA and Britain rather than Israel. The Palestinian people would thus be justified in doubting any international guarantees issued by Washington, and London in particular.
Editorial in Libya's Al-Jamahiriyah
Israeli soldiers did not only open fire on the prisoners, they set fire to the last page of the American-British guarantees plan.
Editorial in UAE's Al-Khalij
What happened yesterday in Jericho is a scandal. There was a conspiracy between the Zionist entity and its patrons Washington and London which preceded the Jericho prison crime.
Editorial in UAE's Al-Bayan
The attack of betrayal and collusion. The strange and repulsive circumstances surrounding the aggression took the form of collusion by the Americans and the British... In consequence, neither they nor Israel has the right to ask the Palestinians under Hamas to recognize Israel or establish any peaceful understandings with it.
BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4809052.stm
"Nobody came with a complaint. Nobody put pressure on us. They didn't demand anything. Everybody blamed the Palestinian Authority," Olmert said. He was speaking during a visit to National Police Headquarters in Jerusalem, where he met with Insp.-Gen. Moshe Karadi and other senior officers.
More
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395612817&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Okay, enough with the J-post already. I'm not going to bother keeping the print version in my bathroom, and I can't get the online stuff to print onto toilet paper, so it's just no good to me.