Nazir Majally, Asharq Al-Awsat

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 12 October 2003 — Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teen and destroyed homes on the second day of their operation in the Gaza Strip yesterday as Palestinians buried three children killed on Thursday.

The Palestinian leadership, meanwhile, failed to resolve a government crisis.

President Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei met in the West Bank town of Ramallah but failed to settle on an interior minister in charge of security forces for their emergency Cabinet formed last week.

The original nominee, Nasser Youssef, angered Arafat by declining to appear at the swearing-in ceremony.

He is apparently demanding that the Cabinet, whose authority expires in a month, be ratified. A parliamentary vote set for Thursday was canceled.

“Abu Ala (Qorei) and the Cabinet ministers who were sworn in will continue to perform their responsibilities until the month-long period stipulated according to law is over,” Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeinah said.

Empowered to reform security forces and rein in militants, the Palestinian interior minister would be key to reviving a US-backed peace road map that is in tatters following a resurgence in more than three years of Middle East violence.

In Rafah, medical officials said Israeli forces killed a 19-year-old Palestinian man and wounded 16 others.

Eight Palestinians — five civilians and three fighters — have been killed in the raid launched Thursday, the deepest in Rafah in six months.

An Israeli Army spokesman said the army would stay in Rafah as long as necessary, indicating the raid would be open-ended.

Rafah governor Majid Al-Ajah said 45 homes had been destroyed during the operation and that the city and its neighboring refugee camp had been without electricity for two days.

Troops also imposed a curfew on the camp, which is home to 10,000 people, and cut off Rafah town from the rest of the Gaza Strip.

Human rights organizations have denounced house demolitions as collective punishment.

Abu Rudeinah called the Israeli operation a “war crime and human catastrophe.”

Dore Gold, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the raid showed Israel was again compelled “to do the work that the Palestinian Authority is supposed to do.”

At least 200 masked Gaza fighters led a funeral march for three of the Palestinians killed in Rafah, shooting in the air and shouting “revenge, revenge is near.”

Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the Haifa bombing, urged Palestinians to unite and fight.

“Islamic Jihad calls on our people and on Palestinian national and Islamic factions to declare a general deployment and be ready to face the Israeli incursion in Rafah,” the group said in a leaflet.