Abbas appeals to UN Security Council to halt IDF's Nablus operation By Amos Harel and Arnon Regular February 24, 2006 Haaretz Original Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/686123.html Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Friday appealed to the United Nations Security Council and the Quartet of major peace mediators - the United States, the European Union, the UN and Russia - to intervene to halt Israeli military operations in the West Bank city of Nablus. Abbas told the Quartet that the Israeli operations threaten the atmosphere of calm that the Palestinian leadership is seeking to maintain, said Abbas adviser Nabil Abu Rdainah. Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces troops killed three Palestinians near the Gaza-Israel border early Friday, and an Israeli air strike later in the morning targeted a rocket-launching cell in the Strip. Abbas warned that the IDF's five-day Nablus operation - the largest in the West Bank since the Gaza disengagement this summer - could endanger the cease-fire that has been in effect for a year, the Palestinian WAFA news agency reported. The IDF's Northern Glory operation is targeting terror networks operating in the Balata refugee camp in the Nablus area, where the IDF fears a third terror hub - in addition to Jenin and Tul Karm - is being established. Five Palestinian militants were killed in the operation Thursday during clashes with IDF troops. Both Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh have denounced the operation. Haniyeh, the Palestinian Authority prime minister-designate, urged the international community to stop what he called the Israeli massacre. Missile strike thwarts Qassam attack The Israel Air Force thwarted a Qassam attack Friday morning when it fired several missiles at Palestinian militants in the northern Gaza Strip who the army said were preparing to launch rockets at Israel. The missiles hit a car containing Qassam rockets, causing the vehicle to explode, the army said. The occupants were apparently unhurt, but two passersby were reported to be lightly wounded. Although Hamas activists may not be actively launching Qassam rockets at Israel, they are providing assistance to militants from other groups who are carrying out such attacks. Earlier Friday, IDF troops shot dead three Palestinians on the Gaza-Israel border in two separate incidents, the army said. An IDF tank opened fire on four unarmed Palestinians who approached the Gaza border fence near the Kissufim crossing Thursday night, killing two Palestinians, military sources said. The third Palestinian was arrested, and the fourth escaped. In the second incident, a Palestinian was killed by IDF tank fire a few hundred meters south of the checkpoint when he attempted to lay an explosive device near the fence in an effort to blow up army vehicles on the Israeli side of the fence. One of the militants killed overnight was the son of Abdel Fattah Dukhan, a senior leader and co-founder of Hamas. Also Friday, a Hamas militant was killed in Gaza while improperly handling explosives. Hamas identified the man as Abed Moati Abu Daf, 28, the most prominent trainer of militants in Gaza, and said he died on a training mission. A second Palestinian was seriously wounded in the blast. Five militants killed in Nablus Five Palestinian militants were killed in the IDF's Nablus operation during clashes with soldiers Thursday. Four of the militants killed were wanted by Israel, and IDF sources said the fifth was shot while throwing a firebomb at troops. Two soldiers were wounded, one moderately and one lightly. Haniyeh said Israel's ongoing military incursion in Nablus was aimed at hampering efforts to form the government and reach an agreement on the re-organization of the Palestinian arena. We will not let Palestinian blood become a tool in the contest between parties running in the Israeli election, he said. The clashes occurred as troops searched for a group of wanted men headed by Mohammed Shatiwi, a senior member of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the Nablus area. The first incident took place in the early morning, when soldiers surrounded a number of buildings in which Shatiwi was hiding with other wanted men. The soldiers stormed one of the buildings and began to conduct searches, eventually locating Shatiwi and two of his aides. Shatiwi opened fire first, wounding two of the soldiers. The troops then returned fire, killing the three men, who were subsequently identified as Shatiwi, Mohammed Amar and Abu Ali Samiri. The gunfight also resulted in injuries to three members of a Palestinian ambulance crew who were in the area. One of the Palestinian medics sustained serious wounds. Physicians for Human Rights condemned the incident, terming it a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. IDF sources said that gunfire had not been directed at the ambulance crew, and that the medics may have been injured simply because they were too close to the action. IDF Colonel Yuval Bazak said Shatiwi had been one of the army's primary targets in Nablus over the past two years, and that he had been personally involved in the death of three Israelis. The fourth Palestinian fatality was killed close to the building in which Shatiwi and his aides were located. Bazak said the Palestinian was a known wanted man, and had arrived in the area armed with the intention of harming soldiers who were carrying out the operation. A sniper force in the area spotted him and killed him. In another incident, a clash broke out in the Dahia neighborhood when a military jeep got stuck and Palestinians threw firebombs and rocks at troops. One of the soldiers opened fire at the group of Palestinians, killing Ibrahim Sa'id, 19. Sa'id's relatives said he was shot three times, despite being unarmed. According to the IDF, Sa'id had hurled firebombs at the troops.