West Bank Base Evacuated by Israeli Forces, One Killed

DOTAN, West Bank – Israeli forces evacuated a West Bank army base that was used as a staging area for removing residents of two Jewish settlements last month, and soldiers shot and killed an unarmed Palestinian Arab teenager who entered the base too quickly.Allah Khamtouni, 19, and nine other Palestinian Arabs entered the Dotan base near the Palestinian town of Jenin early yesterday, mistakenly thinking it had been abandoned, Palestinian officials said.Israeli Colonel Shmulik Kalmi said when Khamtouni and the others ran into the base, soldiers fired warning shots in the air, but the group did not halt. Fearing the Palestinian Arabs might be planning a suicide bombing, the soldiers fired at Khamtouni’s legs, but he bent down as they fired and was fatally hit in the shoulder, Colonel Kalmi said. Both the Israeli army and the Palestinian Arabs said Khamtouni was unarmed.The last troops left Dotan late yesterday afternoon and Palestinian Arabs flooded in, grabbing what construction materials they could, before Palestinian police opened fire on the scavengers, wounding three in the legs, witnesses said. About 60 uniformed police restored order.The rundown base was retained as a staging post as part of Israel’s forced evacuation last month of the nearby Homesh and Sanur settlements. Settlers evacuated two other settlements voluntarily.This week, Israeli forces left after finishing their work in Homesh and Sanur, and Palestinian Arabs moved in, though Israel is not handing over the area to the Palestinians and plans to continue to send army patrols through.The evacuation of the Dotan base was not part of the “disengagement,” which dealt with evacuating the 25 settlements. In a statement, the military said that with the evacuation of the base, Israeli forces have “completed their mission” in connection with the withdrawal.In another development related to the pullout, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told military officers he in tends to reopen the Rafah border crossing in January, and beginning next week, Palestinian Arabs would be able to use the new Kerem Shalom facility at the junction of the Israeli, Egyptian, and Gaza borders.Also yesterday, an Israeli court convicted the commander of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Abbas Sayad, of masterminding a March 2002 suicide bombing that killed 29 people at a Passover holiday meal at the Park Hotel in the Israeli resort city of Netanya.

West Bank Base Evacuated by Israeli Forces, One Killed

West Bank Base Evacuated by Israeli Forces, One Killed

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