Subscribe to Print Edition | Wed., July 16, 2008 Tamuz 13, 5768 | | Israel Time: 21:43 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Rosner's Domain Diplomacy Defense Jewish World Opinion National Print Edition Car Rental Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Easy Start Travel Week's End Anglo File

A Palestinian boy looks at books outside a school after an IDF raid in Nablus on Monday. (Reuters) Last update - 18:07 08/07/2008 IDF shuts down Nablus mall in campaign against Hamas By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies Tags: West Bank, Hamas, Nablus, IDF The Israel Defense Forces shut down a shopping center that houses more than 70 stores in the northern West Bank city of Nablus Tuesday, as it pressed on with a campaign against Hamas' civil and social infrastructure in the West Bank. The chairman of the board of directors of the multiple-storey mall is Nablus Mayor Adli Yaish, who has links to Hamas and is currently imprisoned in Israel, residents said. The IDF also shut down five other Hamas institutions in the northern West Bank city, including a support group for militants jailed in Israel, an Islamic trade union organization, a medical society and two aid organizations in the Nablus refugee camps of Askar and Balata. Advertisement The troops shut on Monday down a girls school, a sports club and the headquarters of the Solidarity charity. Witnesses said the medical center bears the same name as the charity, but is run by a different charitable organization that once was controlled by Hamas. Defense Minister Ehud Barak early this week signed an order declaring that 36 organizations operating around the world and allegedly affiliated with Hamas are banned in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Security sources on Monday said that the organizations support and aid Hamas. The sources added that Barak's move integrated and extended current Israeli policy against sponsors of terrorism. Defense establishment data has revealed that in 2007, approximately $120 million were transferred to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The defense establishment added that the money was intended to finance the activities of terrorist organizations in these areas. The money was said to have originated from a number of countries, including Jordan, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Britain, Canada, the United States, Egypt and the Gulf States. The IDF has since begun shutting down branches of the organizations. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and Shin Bet security service chief Yuval Diskin have approved the plan to target Hamas' civilian infrastructure. Over the last few years, Hamas has built an "organizational system that, if necessary, could serve as the basis for a state," a senior IDF official told Haaretz. "It's simply a 'state of associations.' They accumulate a lot of popular support and rely on an enormous infusion of funds from abroad, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year, from bodies in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and Muslim communities in Europe, the United States and South America." The IDF raided the Nablus mall and the five charities early Tuesday and left notices to the owners regarding the closure order, residents said. It said the mall will be closed for five years starting the middle of August, while the charities will be closed for two years. The army seized computers and files from the places. Palestinian officials expressed concern that the closing of the Nablus shopping center would harm families in the city whose income depends on the stores. An IDF force also raided Ramallah's twin city al-Bireh municipality early Tuesday and seized files and other documents after ransacking some of the offices. Employees held a sit-in protest against the operation outside the municipal building. Al-Bireh city council is run by Hamas Bookmark to del.icio.us   Hezbollah's pleasure For Israelis, the release of Kuntar is a form of self-inflicted torture. 'Nasrallah will pay' Family and friends of abducted soldiers gather to mourn.   1.   finishing/doing abbass`s work 15:23  |  Nabulsi 08/07/08   2.   these are GANG actions 15:26  |  Dr. Raed 08/07/08   3.   This will work, why? 15:36  |  Paul Freedman 08/07/08   4.   Pathetic DM 15:41  |  Marwan 08/07/08   5.   you shall learn 15:44  |  Turk 08/07/08   6.   IDF vandalism. Look at what they did to the school. 15:45  |  Michael 08/07/08   7.   Some dots just don`t connect 15:49  |  Natallie Durson 08/07/08   8.   Dr Raed violence has brought your people misery 15:52  |  Joe Frazier 08/07/08   9.   Read this before you lecture us, Michael #6 from UK 15:57  |  MR 08/07/08   10.   I am a `right wing fanatic` but this is nuts !! 16:07  |  Yisrael 08/07/08   11.   Durson Inbreeding Comment reflects on you 16:09  |  Joe Frazier 08/07/08   12.   counterproductive action 16:20  |  rm 08/07/08   13.   1930`s 16:35  |  Doubleclick 08/07/08   14.   9 MR so you`re saying IDF are like racist thugs? 16:39  |  Michael 08/07/08   15.   Joe, had u ever lived under occupation?? 16:42  |  Dr. Raed 08/07/08   16.   Headline: Scores of Farfur dolls seized in daring raid 17:12  |  Pssd Off American 08/07/08   17.   Visiting the west Bank 17:15  |  Joe Frazier 08/07/08   18.   I ban the illegal racist entity of "Israel" 17:35  |  Ismail 08/07/08   19.   Where is the outrage? 17:36  |  Dave Duncan 08/07/08   20.   Well at least there`s no "winning hearts and minds" nonsense 17:38  |  Aphemia 08/07/08   21.   #6, well said Michael in the UK! 17:48  |  Silvienne 08/07/08   22.   #11, Joe Frazier... 17:50  |  Silvienne 08/07/08   23.   #10, Yisrael... 17:52  |  Silvienne 08/07/08   24.   #15 Dr Reed: how easy for you to forget how 17:53  |  Salomoni 08/07/08   25.   Israeli Facism at work 18:04  |  Ibrahim 08/07/08   26.   Rip Van Michael No6 18:05  |  Sean 08/07/08   27.   Natallie Durson 18:16  |  Jane 08/07/08   28.   Raed 18:16  |  Charles 08/07/08   29.   Rhetoric a la Durson 18:41  |  Joe Sittizen 08/07/08   30.   About time!!! Good Job!!! 18:57  |  JB 08/07/08   31.   #15 & #18 Mr. Raed and Ismail 19:07  |  David 08/07/08   32.   Silvienne read before you comment 19:27  |  Joe Frazier 08/07/08   33.   Aren`t you being a little obvious? 19:28  |  Colin Wright 08/07/08   34.   #7, Durson 19:48  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 08/07/08   35.   Good photo-op for Obama at the school! 19:51  |  Michael 08/07/08   36.   GOOD WORK IDF 19:57  |  JP 08/07/08   37.   GOOD WORK IDF 19:57  |  JP 08/07/08   38.   IDF don´t give a sh*t to these pollitcal correct trash people on 19:59  |  JP 08/07/08   39.   towards the future ... 20:14  |  steve dill 08/07/08   40.   #29, Cipora Julianna Kohn 20:24  |  Fritz Wilke 08/07/08   41.   #35, steve dill - Rephrasing your text a bit 20:27  |  Fritz Wilke 08/07/08   42.   live and let them live 21:34  |  jewish boy 08/07/08   43.   no end in sight 22:18  |  annie 08/07/08   44.   JP what is antisemetic 22:24  |  Dave Duncan 08/07/08   45.   #28 Charles 22:44  |  Janice 08/07/08   46.   to Dave Ducan, can´t read? 23:40  |  JP 08/07/08   47.   IDF must do the rest now 23:42  |  JP 08/07/08   48.   To 45 Janice , IF , if ... 10:02  |  Charles 09/07/08   49.   #47 Well, someone`s blind here, JP 16:25  |  Johnboy 09/07/08   50.   EVERY DIME THE IDF CONFISCATES IS ENTITLED TO GO BACK INTO THEIR 16:53  |  glenna 11/07/08   51.   number 48 charles 19:45  |  ku 11/07/08   52.   JP 19:53  |  ku 11/07/08   53.   glenna 21:38  |  ku 16/07/08

Read & React PRISONER SWAP: Bodies of Goldwasser and Regev identified; funerals Thursday Responses: 283 'We want to remember our son as he was, not as a body' Responses: 82 Bradley Burston: The pleasure Hezbollah takes in torture Responses: 158 The new 'Obama advisor' problem: Senator Chuck Hagel Responses: 53 Rosner's Domain Why does Israel keep agreeing to prisoner swaps? Talansky threatened to use a bomb - a long time ago (WTR) The new 'Obama advisor' problem: Senator Chuck Hagel Attacking Iran to get the world's attention? More Headlines 20:49 Olmert: We paid heavy price due to moral duty to our troops 16:07 'We want to remember our son as he was, not as a body' 20:50 Lebanon President hails Kuntar, freed Hezbollah men as 'heroes' 18:27 Abbas congratulates Kuntar's family for killer's release 21:27 Veteren Mideast journalist Eric Silver dies aged 73 21:31 Another Olmert probe, another American businessman, another unpaid loan 15:14 Turkish FM: Israel, Syria show will for peace, to hold 4th round of indirect talks