Palestinians Grieve amid Celebration of End of Ramadan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, December 08, 2002

Palestinians Grieve amid Celebration of End of Ramadan

With the sunrise, the Israeli armed forces left Al Bureij Refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip Friday, after a pre-dawn raid in which ten Palestinians were killed and about 20 others wounded.

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With the sunrise, the Israeli armed forces left Al Bureij Refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip Friday, after a pre-dawn raid in which ten Palestinians were killed and about 20 others wounded.

The Palestinians, who were celebrating the end of the holy Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, said they were despaired and lostany hope for peace.

Hours before the incursion, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said members of the terror network al-Qaeda had infiltrated the Palestinian-controlled Gaza strip and Israel's northern neighbor Lebanon.

Salem Sallama, a Hamas leader in the refugee camp, said "Sharon stole away happiness from the eyes of our children. The man approves everyday that he doesn't want peace. He wants to fight us forever, and we have to defend our children and our people."

"Whatever crimes or massacres Sharon or any other Israeli leadercommitted against our people, our determination to continue Jihad (holy war) against the occupiers will never been shaken," he said.

In the Al Bureij camp which inhabits 25,000 refugees, people looked gloomy and distressed, showing no happy expression as in thefeat, or Eid Al Fitter.

Instead of enjoying the holidays, the Palestinians went to the streets to see the houses destroyed by some 40 Israeli armored vehicles, backed by helicopters, and visited the families of the victims.

"I hate Sharon because he destroyed our house. What if his houseis destroyed," said Suha Shishneya, the 11-year-old daughter of Ayman Shishneya, a Palestinian militant.

"The soldiers broke into our house, opened fire in every direction. My kids were scared. They forced us to gather into one room, and drove us to the outside. Then they dynamited our house after searching into it," said Ayman's wife Manal.

At prayers on Friday noon, the first weekend prayer after Ramadan, tens of thousands of Palestinians carried on their shoulders the bodies of the ten Palestinians who were killed by Israeli army tanks shells.

Masked militants fired gunshots in the air, while thousands of mourners chanted slogans calling to gain revenge of the death of the ten Palestinians.

"We tell Sharon and (Israeli Defence Minister Shaul) Mofaz that revenge for the pure blood of our people is coming soon. Both of them will shed blood for the pain we suffer," a Hamas masked militant said.

According to the Palestinians, the ten people killed were four Hamas militants, two police officers, a 31-year-old woman, a 14-year-old girl and two civilians.

The deaths brought the number killed since the start of the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in late September 2000 to 2,749,including 2,021 Palestinians and 678 Israelis.

Ahmed Rabah, chief director of Al Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza Strip said that the ten people were killed by shells fragments, adding that there were nails in the shells that infiltrated into their bodies and caused their death.

"Compared with the Palestinian attacks, the kind of force that the Israeli army is using against Palestinians is excessive," said Ahmed Allam, a Palestinian analyst who lives in the camp.

He said that what kind of danger can a Palestinian stone-throwerpose to the Israeli troops who sat behind metal doors and windows in tanks.

"Israel must stop using excessive force against the poor and innocent Palestinian civilians. The Israeli military storms deprived people of any vision of peace," said Allam.

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