The End of the Road Map?
The `Road Map to Peace,' lauded by George W. Bush as "a new hope," is in shreds after a day of brutal bloodshed and
violence in Gaza and the West Bank.
Giving strong echoes of the White House `war against terror' rhetoric, the office of Ariel Sharon's Israeli government
declared today, "the operations in the West Bank and Gaza are against `terror groups,' not the PA."
Mid-afternoon Thursday, the assassination in Gaza City of a senior Hamas official was reported. Ismail Abu Shanab was
one of three Palestinians killed Thursday afternoon in a missile attack in Gaza City that Israeli security sources
admitted had targeted Shanab. Hamas and Islamic Jihad immediately declared that their temporary ceasefire was officially
over.
In Tulkarem, a 16 year old Palestinian was shot dead by troops, and at least five others were injured after IOF troops
invaded the city. Eyewitnesses reported the teenager as being unarmed.
In Nablus, where the army invaded the old city about two hours after midnight, a daytime curfew was imposed before
day-break. Three Palestinians were known to have been arrested early on in the incursion. These arrests were followed
swiftly by house to house searches where rat-holes have been blown in house walls, controlled explosions destroying
several buildings, soldiers randomly firing at parked cars on the street, and military occupation of a school and
privately owned houses.
The buildings destroyed included several shops and a town mosque.
Disturbances and arrests were also reported from Jenin and Hebron.