IDF kills 3 Fatah men suspected of killing Israeli in West Bank

Israeli troops killed the three senior Fatah operatives suspected of shooting to death Rabbi Meir Hai in the northern West Bank late last week.

The Israel Defense Forces raided the men's homes in Nablus, acting on information obtained by the Shin Bet security service.

Eyewitnesses said the three were shot while unarmed and did not resist arrest. However, Col. Itzik Bar, commander of the Samaria Brigade who led the operation, said that "the forces were operating based on a terrorist threat, with sufficient information that [the men were] armed."

The Palestinian Authority complained to the United States yesterday that Israel had unjustifiably entered Area A, which is under Palestinian civilian and security control.

Senior administration officials called National Security Adviser Uzi Arad and asked for clarifications; Arad called the operation a matter of self-defense because the three men had taken part in a terrorist attack.

The U.S. administration conveyed a message to both Israel and the PA that both sides should work to calm down the situation after the Nablus incident, a senior U.S. official told Haaretz. The official said that "we talked to both sides in order to get full information about what happened. We expressed our concern and encouraged both sides to continue their security cooperation."

The dead are Raad Sarkaji, 38, a Tanzim activist formerly of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the Nablus area, who was arrested in 2002 and released at the beginning of this year; Ghassan Abu Shreikh, 40, who was also a former prisoner in Israel, and Adnan Subuh, 33. Security officials said Subuh had four weapons and a hoard of ammunition when he was killed.

The IDF reported that the troops reached the three homes and called on the occupants to surrender. When they did not, troops fired stun grenades and fired in the direction of the house involved. Only then did they shoot to kill.

Abu Shreikh and Sarkaji were killed within a few minutes. Subuh refused to come out and shouted "Allahu akbar." After a three-hour standoff, the troops, who were afraid he would fire his weapons, shot a missile at the house, killing him.

Abu Shreikh's wife Thani told reporters that she and her husband were awakened by an explosion. When they tried to leave the house, her husband went first; she saw him fall. Soldiers then approached and shot him at close range, she said.

Based on this and other testimony, the human rights group B'Tselem called for the IDF to investigate the operation.

Around 10,000 people took part in funeral services for the three yesterday. PA officials were also present. "This is another heinous crime on the long list of crimes of the occupation," Fatah's armed wing said in a statement, promising to respond.

IDF sources said they found the suspects quickly because Israeli forces could operate freely in the West Bank. PA security forces, which were also looking for the men, made 120 arrests in 24 hours, mainly of thieves and traffickers of stolen vehicles whom they believed had information about the shooters.