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Israelis
"don't respect the ceasefire and they continue their attacks
against the Palestinian people since the first day of the
ceasefire," Hindi said
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GAZA
CITY, August 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Palestinian
Authority and resistance factions heaped blame on Israel for the new
flare up of violence, asserting that incessant Israeli aggressions,
particularly the recent raid on Nablus which claimed the lives of four
Palestinians, worked as the trigger for the two bombings in Israel and
the West Bank earlier Tuesday, August 12.
Israel
immediately decided to freeze the scheduled release on some 69
Palestinian detainees, mostly held on criminal charges.
Palestinian
Minister of State for Security Affairs Mohammad Dahlan condemned the two
attacks which killed
two Israelis but blamed them on Israel’s continued raids on autonomous
Palestinian territory.
"We
are against any operations of this kind but it must be clear that it is
Israel which should be more responsible and stop its operations in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip," Dahlan told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
He
said Israel should have realized that its unjustified attacks against
Palestinian-ruled areas - all in brazen violation of the temporary
ceasefire declared by Palestinian resistance factions - would trigger reprisals.
"You
must know that such operations generate violence and spur reactions from
the Palestinian side," Dahlan said, in reference to the
raid in Nablus on Friday.
Tuesday
attacks came four days after Israeli troops pushed into the West bank
town of Nablus killing four Palestinians, including two members of the
Islamic resistance movement Hamas.
‘Normal
Result’
Hamas,
which claimed responsibility for the attack that targeted a Jewish
settlement, blamed the Israeli government for the escalation.
"The
Israeli enemy is responsible for this situation because of their
rejection of the ceasefire and their tough position," said Hamas
spokesman Ismail Haniya.
Hamas
political leaders said after the Nablus aggression they would still
stick to the truce but their armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam
Brigades, vowed to avenge killed leaders.
But
Haniya described the attack on the Jewish settlement as a "normal
result" to the Israeli escalations.
"This
operation is a normal result of the Zionist position, the tough position
of the Zionists, who are rejecting any commitment to the ceasefire which
was proposed by the Palestinian factions," he averred.
"They
still continue their aggressions and violations against Palestinian
people," stressed the Hamas spokesman.
Hamas
reiterated, however, "commitment to the ceasefire but Israeli
crimes push the Palestinian people to defend themselves."
The
group was one of a several Palestinian resistance factions which
announced suspending
attacks against Israel for three months to give room for the
implementation of the roadmap peace plan.
But
it attached a raft of conditions to the truce, including "an
immediate halt to all types of Israeli aggressions".
Mohammad
al-Hindi, spokesman for the Islamic Jihad - which also signed up to the
three-month truce, also echoed the same position.
"Israel
is responsible for the violence. ... They don't respect the ceasefire
and they continue their attacks against the Palestinian people since the
first day of the ceasefire."
A
Palestinian human rights watchdog has registered at least 854 Israeli
violations of the Palestinian-declared truce in just one months.
The
Israeli breaches varied from assassination of Palestinian activists,
incursions into Palestinian territories, houses demolition, land
confiscation, massive arrests and building of more roadblocks.
Release
‘Postponed’
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"Israel
decided to postpone the release of these prisoners, following
these attacks", one Israeli official said
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In
a swift response to the Tuesday attacks, Israel postponed the release of
69 Palestinian detainees which was scheduled for today.
"Israel
decided to postpone the release of these prisoners, following these
attacks", one Israeli official said on condition of anonymity.
"We
cannot free Palestinian prisoners when the Palestinian Authority does
nothing to stem terrorism," Israel's hawkish health minister, Danny
Naveh, told public radio.
Most
of those to be freed were sentenced for staying in Israel without a
permit, while another 25 committed offences involving theft or damage to
property.
Last
Wednesday, Israel released only some 340 Palestinian detainees, mostly
administrative detainees - itself a beach of the
internationally-supported roadmap plan which urges Israel to free all
Palestinian prisoners in its jails, estimated at around 8,000.
Until
now, Israel's reluctance to release more than a small fraction of the
detainees - particularly those belonging to resistance groups - has
proved to be a major obstacle to the peace process
