Israeli Raid on Palestinian Prison Ignites Crisis in Occupied Territories

An Israeli soldier was killed in a fierce gun battle in the West Bank city of Jenin Thursday during a raid by Israeli forces. The raid came hours after gunmen shot and wounded two Israeli motorists near a Jewish settlement.

The spike in violence followed Tuesday's assault on a prison in Jericho by Israeli forces. In the raid, Israeli troops seized five Palestinians accused of assassinating former Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi. Israel used helicopters and tanks to fire at the prison before smashing through its walls with armed bulldozers. Two Palestinians were killed during the assault and a third has since died of his injuries.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas angrily denounced the raid on Wednesday. Speaking at the destroyed jail, Abbas called the attack, "An ugly crime which cannot be forgiven and a humiliation for the Palestinian people." Abbas also said the raid had only been carried out to boost the Israeli government's chances in the coming elections.

Meanwhile, Palestinians across Gaza and the West Bank have gone on strike over Israel's seizure of militant Ahmed Saadat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and four others. Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert defended the move saying, "We are proud that we have imposed justice on these killers without hurting unfairly any other person who was not involved,"

The five had been in the prison under guard from British and US jailers. But early Tuesday, the British government removed the supervisors, citing security reasons. The Israeli government said it raided the prison to prevent a Hamas government from carrying out a promise to release the prisoners.

Many Palestinians are accusing the British and U.S. governments of colluding with Israel in the raid. President Abbas also questioned how Israeli forces had known so precisely when to start their attack, just minutes after the international monitors were withdrawn. The British government has denied any collusion.

Following the raid, armed Palestinians kidnapped at least eleven foreigners in the West Bank and Gaza. All of the hostages have since been released.

* Naseer Aruri, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. He is author of the book "Dishonest broker: America's Role in Israel and Palestine." His forthcoming book is titled "Palestine and the Palestinians."

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AMY GOODMAN: For more on the latest, we're joined on the telephone right now by Naseer Aruri, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. He's author of the book, Dishonest Broker: America's Role in Israel and Palestine. His forthcoming book is Palestine and the Palestinians. Professor Aruri, welcome to Democracy Now!

NASEER ARURI: Thank you, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: Your response to what has taken place over the last few days in Jericho?

NASEER ARURI: Well, I think that here we see that a series of mistakes and illegalities have been committed. I mean, to begin with Ahmed Saadat, the new head of the Palestine -- the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, he and his colleagues were actually sentenced illegally four years ago by a military court headed by Arafat, somebody from the Arafat dynasty who has no training in the law whatsoever. Then, they were held illegally by virtue a political arrangement, an extra-legal arrangement, as Amnesty calls it, by the British, the U.S., as well as the P.A. and Israel. And now they are kidnapped and incarcerated in Israel proper illegally, since the occupying power does not really have the right to remove people under its occupation to its own territory and put them on trial.

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