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Israel calls up several hundred reserves { October 19 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=791791&tw=wn_wire_storyhttp://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=791791&tw=wn_wire_story
Israel Calls Up Several Hundred Army Reserves
Sunday, October 19, 2003 7:20 a.m. ET
By Timothy Heritage
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel called up several hundred reserve soldiers Sunday to serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip because of rising violence and fears of a new wave of Palestinian suicide bombings.
Israeli military sources said the five battalions of reserve soldiers would plug gaps caused by cuts in defense spending. But the call-up also highlighted growing concern about persistent violence that has thwarted international peace efforts.
Israeli forces killed two militants, a woman bystander and a teen-ager in violence Saturday. Three of the deaths were in southern Gaza, where troops withdrew from one refugee camp on Sunday after a four-day raid but remained in another.
Asked about the call-up, Israeli army spokeswoman Ruth Yaron told Israel Radio: "We are facing another wave of terror."
"Unfortunately, due to budget cuts ... when we currently face a wave of alerts and attacks, we are forced to recruit reserve troops on too short notice," she said.
She did not say how many reserves had been called up. Military sources put the number at several hundred but fewer than 1,000.
Violence has increased in recent weeks. Islamic militants spearheading a three-year-old uprising for statehood have carried out more suicide bombings and Israel has stepped up military raids to track and kill the militants.
The bloodshed, including a bomb attack which killed three American security guards in Gaza Wednesday, has stalled a U.S.-led peace "road map" intended to end the violence and establish an independent Palestinian state in 2005.
WASHINGTON TALKS ON TRUCE
Three members of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement flew to Washington Sunday to discuss proposals for a truce with U.S. government opposition leaders.
Hatem Abdel-Qader, Ahmed Ghneim and Qaddoura Fares said they would try to secure U.S. guarantees to reach a mutual cease-fire. Abdel-Qader said they had been invited by Democrat members of Congress.
Israel has said any cease-fire should not replace a crackdown on militants by the Palestinian Authority. An Israeli official said the delegation to Washington was trying to "revive a dead horse."
In violence at the weekend, Israeli forces shot dead a senior member of the Islamic militant group Hamas at the Brazil refugee camp in southern Gaza Saturday after gunmen attacked soldiers who had entered the camp last Thursday.
Troops shot dead another militant in clashes that followed and a woman bystander was killed by shrapnel, witnesses said. Soldiers later shot dead a teen-ager during a confrontation in Tulkarm in the West Bank, witnesses and medics said.
Hamas vowed revenge after the deaths in southern Gaza. The army said Sunday militants had fired eight Qassam rockets from Gaza toward the town of Sderot in southern Israel but there were no reports of any damage or casualties.
Troops withdrew Sunday from the Brazil refugee camp, where witnesses said about 20 buildings had been damaged or destroyed, but remained in nearby Rafah refugee camp.
The soldiers have been searching for tunnels which Israel says are used to smuggle weapons in from Egypt. United Nations personnel say more than 110 homes have been wrecked during the Israeli campaign in southern Gaza in the past week.
The troops have killed 15 Palestinians in Rafah since October 10, Palestinian officials said.
Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited.
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