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Israeli troops raids four palestinian banks Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-02-25-mideast_x.htmhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2004-02-25-mideast_x.htm
Israeli troops raids four Palestinian banks
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Israeli security forces raided four branches of Palestinian banks on Wednesday in their widest search yet for money transferred to Palestinian militant groups from abroad and other areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Dozens of Palestinians threw stones at soldiers who clamped a curfew on downtown Ramallah during the raids. Soldiers firing tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds injured 17 Palestinians, three of them critically, doctors said.
The raids by the Shin Bet security service marked Israel's largest-scale effort yet in more than three years of fighting to stop the flow of funds to Palestinian militant groups, including from Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
Troops driving jeeps, armored personnel carriers and trucks blocked off main roads in Ramallah and declared a curfew. Shop owners were ordered to close their businesses, and residents and journalists were ordered indoors, some at gunpoint.
Overnight, soldiers arrested computer experts of two of the banks, who accompanied troops on the raids, Palestinian security officials said. Soldiers covered bank security cameras with sacks or disabled them, and confined employees to back rooms, witnesses said. Customers were allowed to leave after ID checks.
The Israeli military said Israel would freeze bank accounts that have received funds from Hezbollah, accounts of outlawed groups or those with suspected ties to the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and any accounts used by militants.
An Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the forces were also seeking evidence of possible involvement by Yasser Arafat in funding terror attacks.
The operation is part of the "global war" on terrorist funding, an army statement said.
The raids came a day after Palestinian security officials confirmed that Hezbollah helped fund the most recent two Jerusalem bus bombings — on Sunday and Jan. 29 — which killed 18 Israelis and a foreign worker.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades', an armed group linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, has claimed responsibility for both attacks. However, the security officials said Hamas and Islamic Jihad were also involved.
On Tuesday, Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Israeli parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said the Iranian-backed Hezbollah pays bonuses of several hundred dollars for each Israeli killed in a suicide bombing.
Palestinian militants have confirmed having received large sums from Hezbollah, including single payments of up to $50,000. They said deadly attacks were rewarded but denied there was a fixed pay scale.
Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group also receive large sums from abroad. Israeli officials have said some funds were being sent in the guise of donations for Hamas-controlled charities.
In Wednesday's bank raids, troops searched two branches of the Arab Bank, and offices of the Cairo Amman Bank and the International Palestine Bank, Palestinian security officials said. Soldiers also took over several other buildings, witnesses said.
Last year, troops raided a bank in a West Bank suburb of Jerusalem. Also last year, the Palestinian Authority briefly froze the bank accounts of Palestinian charities in the Gaza Strip to check for possible links to Hamas.
In other developments, Israel decided to shorten the route of its West Bank separation barrier by more than 10%, in an attempt to ease hardship for Palestinians, security officials said.
The barrier — originally planned to run up to 450 miles — will be shortened by 50 miles, said Brig. Gen. Eran Ofir, head of the army's technology and logistics branch.
In one area, where the army was planning to build a fence that would have cut Jenin residents off from the West Bank's Jordan Valley, an entire 12 1/2 mile section has been canceled. In the area of Ben Gurion Airport, the defense establishment has decided not to dig a row of deep trenches, Ofir added.
Ofir also said another 2,953 feet of fencing would be removed in the area of the West Bank town of Qalqiliya. Workers began removing a 5-mile section of fencing near the town of Baka al-Sharkia on Sunday.
According to a security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, State Attorney Edna Arbel has instructed the government not to go ahead with these sections of the barrier because she would not be able to defend them before the world court.
Israel faces several legal challenges to its barrier, including hearings this week at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.
The Palestinians say the barrier, which at times dips deep into the West Bank, amount to a land grab designed to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. Israel says the barrier is needed to keep out suicide bombers.
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Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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