israeli soldiers: who and how

The following is reported from an Palestinian in Haifa:

Friends,


I have had several e-mails from people wanting to know more about the
Israelis who were killed in Ramallah. I know from watching the
Israeli news that the Israelis are making all kinds of excuses for
them. So I want to set the record straight. Please pass on this
information.


According to all Palestinian sources, those found in Ramallah
were \'musta\'arabeen\', ie. Israelis pretending to be Palestinians so
they could enter the city and carry out military operations.
The \'musta\'arabeen\' are known to infiltrate demonstrations and
funeral processions to arrest or execute participants. Their
activities were well documented during the Intifada and continue to
this day.


[This last week, for example, a Palestinian teenager was murdered by
a \'musta\'arab\' outside his mosque when leaving after Friday prayers.
LAW, the leading Palestinian human rights organization just issued a
report on the musta\'arabeen\'s activities. I can forward more
information to anyone interested.]


According to my friends (who had either been there or spoken to
eyewitnesses), 4 Israelis entered Ramallah pretending to be
Palestinians (as musta\'arabeen). 2 were in a Palestinian ambulance
(that had been stolen last night during the clashes between settlers,
soldiers and Palestinians) and two were in an ordinary car. They
entered Ramallah about the same time as the funeral of one of the
youths murdered by the Israelis yesterday was passing by. Evidently
they planned to do something to coincide with the funeral procession,
but what exactly is not clear. All 4 of the musta\'arabeen were armed
and there were explosives in the car and ambulance.


After entering Ramallah they passed by the Friends\' boy\'s school
which is right near the center of the city. Apparently the men in the
car got out opposite the girl\'s school. They were wearing civilian
shirts and army pants. When the kids saw them they panicked and got
back in their car to drive away, but they went in the direction of
the police station. There they were spotted by a policeman who
detained them and took them to the second floor of the police station.


[It is unclear what happened to the men in the ambulance. It appears
that they escaped, and nobody (neither Palestinians nor Israelis)
seems to know where they are. The ambulance they stole has never
reappeared.]


At the same time, mourners from the funeral were passing by the area
and heard that armed Israelis, with a car full of explosives, had
been discovered in the center of town. Palestinian anti-riot police
apparently surrounded the station to prevent the Palestinians from
entering, and there are reports that 12 Palestinian policemen were
injured trying to prevent the mourners from entering the police
station.


The police were however, unable to prevent the crowd from entering
the police station. The station was stormed the police station and
the soldiers were killed. The men seen on TV in the window of the
police station were recognized and identified as brothers of martyrs
from the recent violence -ie. their brothers had been killed by
Israel in the past two weeks.


My friends also confirmed again what I wrote in my original e-mail
about entering Ramallah:


All the roads leading in and out of Ramallah have been blocked by
settlers and soldiers for several days now. There are also very big
signs in Hebrew \'warning\' Israelis that they are entering Palestinian
areas on the side roads, and there are Israeli checkpoints on the
main roads which mark the \'border\' between areas C (which are under
full Israeli occupation) and areas B (where the Israelis have full
military control but the Palestinian Authority has control of civil
affairs. There are also Palestinian checkpoints marking the \'border\'
between Zones B and A (where the Palestinians have both civil
and \'military\' authority.)


It should be noted that Israel was today bombing areas in Zone A,
which are supposedly under full Palestinian control. Which in my
humble opinion shows what a pathetic farce the Oslo process was: even
in the areas under \'full Palestinian control\' the Israelis can enter
whenever they want with their war planes and the PA can\'t do a thing.


It should also be noted that those killed were armed military
personelle and member of an occupying army. They were not civilians.
They were in Ramallah to carry out a military operation.


I just stopped writing to watch the Israeli TV news. (Or rather have
it translated for me!) Israel\'s Channel 2 just aired a Press
Conference with an Israeli journalist who was in Ramallah today and
witnessed what happened. She confirmed that those killed
were \'musta\'arabeen\', and went on to describe how they were stabbed
by the angry mob.


When I have more information, I will pass it on.


-Monica