â??The strike was ordered late Tuesday, March 14, during emergency talks in the Gaza Strip to protest Israel’s raid on the Jericho jail to arrest the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Ahmad Saadat.
“The Palestinian factions called during an emergency meeting for a general strike across the Palestinian territories to condemn the seizure of Saadat, the Israeli aggression and the killing of Palestinians,” a delegate said.
Two Palestinian security guards were killed and 26 others wounded, five of them critically in the Israeli assault of the Jericho jail in a bid to capture Saadat, four other PFLP members and wanted Fatah member Fuad Shubaki.
Israel holds the five PFLP members accused by the Jewish state of being responsible for the killing of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi in 2001. The PFLP claimed the assassination, saying it was to avenge the assassination of Saadat’s predecessor in October 2001.
Saadat surrendered to the occupation troops after the day-long siege, which began just minutes after British and US monitors at the jail withdrew.â?Â
In Context:
â??Sadaat has been held since 2001 under a deal brokered by the late Yasser Arafat. The PFLP claimed responsibility for the killing of the Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi that year.
Under the deal, Sadaat was to be guarded by US and British forces. Those forces this morning abandoned their posts, citing “security concerns”, as the Israeli army approached.â?Â
Palestinians remain without protection
Britain’s Duplicity and the Siege of Jericho Jail
From Arab blogger Haitham: Israel prevented initial Saadat trial?
And the world watches…
“International observers” at a press conference for “Israeli Peace” as they pass by the “Jericho jail.”
Gee, Galloway as a source, Nas? You’ve got to be kidding me. That man is a nut and very probably a orrupt one at that.
More mainstream reporting fills in the gaps of your story:
“Despite a 2002 negotiated agreement that British and US monitors would have custody of the accused prisoners, Hamas was openly declaring its intention to set them free. Foolishly — or in an admission of weakness — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas chimed in to say he would let the prisoners be released. Listening to these threats, and taking them seriously, the small group of foreign monitors requested that Abbas provide enhanced security. When that request was not heeded, the monitors withdrew.”
“Under a four-year-old agreement, Saadat and the other prisoners were held in a Palestinian jail monitored by U.S. and British guards. But the guards left Tuesday, a week after the United States and Britain warned Abbas they would go unless the Palestinians beefed up security.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060315/ap_on_re_mi_ea/palestinians_raid_s_fallout
The Palestinians were basically saying they were abdicating their responsibilities in this case. Your article makes it sound like the U.S. and Britain just, out of the blue, decided to quit.
Oops. Sorry about the last post. I apparently lost the link to one of my sources. I believe it was the Boston Globe’s online coverage.
And, of course, it should have been ‘corrupt’ not ‘orrupt.’ I made a boo-boo.
samaritan, in case you didnt notice, i didnt make up the story nor was i the author of the article. i posted an article.
I know, Nas, but why post from such ridiculously biased articles. The whole part about Abbas and Hamas stating that they intended to abrogate the deal they struck with international monitors and set these terrorists free is intentionally left out of these pro-Palestinian propaganda pieces. And George Galloway, come on!