When the world has the Way,
running horses are retired to manure
the fields.
When the world lacks the way,
warhorses are bred in the countryside.
No crime is greater than approving
of greed,
no calamity is greater than discontent,
no fault is greater than posessiveness.
So the satisfaction of contentment is
always enough.
Witnesses: Israeli Troops Kill 15-Year-Old
Mon Dec 2, 9:35 AM ET
By Wael al-Ahmad
JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teen-ager and wounded 16 people in a crowded market in the West Bank town of Jenin Monday, Palestinian witnesses and hospital sources said.
Violence also flared in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites), where the Israeli army said it killed a Palestinian gunman posing as an Israeli soldier who attacked an army post near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim. One soldier was lightly wounded.
In Jenin, troops backed by two tanks and two armored vehicles opened fire on Palestinians shopping for food ahead of the Eid el-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, witnesses said.
Israeli military sources said troops had been sent to enforce a curfew and returned fire after armed men shot at them. The sources said soldiers shot dead a youth who climbed onto an armored vehicle.
"They were worried he was carrying a bomb or had an explosive belt," one military source said.
But witnesses said Mo'taz Abu al-Doom, 15, was killed while working at his family's cigarette stand. They also said Palestinian gunmen shot back only after the Israelis opened fire first.
The army has imposed curfews on Jenin and other West Bank cities and towns it has reoccupied following a series of suicide bombings, but has periodically lifted restrictions to allow residents to buy essentials.
QUESTIONS ABOUT KENYA PROBE
With Israelis still reeling from last week's dual attacks on Israeli targets in Kenya, Raanan Gissin, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites), said the east African nation lacked the facilities and expertise to conduct an investigation.
Kenyan police said there was a disagreement with Israel over control of key evidence.
But both countries played down tensions over the probe into the suicide bombing that killed 16 people at an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa and a failed missile strike on an Israeli airliner nearby Thursday. Three Israelis were among the hotel dead.
"They don't have the facilities or the expertise and so most of the work must be done by our investigators and the U.S. team that is there," Gissin told Reuters in Jerusalem.
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Israel in the past had thwarted attempts by Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network, which Israel suspects of involvement in the Kenya attacks, to infiltrate the Jewish state. He did not elaborate.
JIHAD CLAIMS GAZA ATTACK
Islamic Jihad, one of the main militant groups behind suicide attacks on Israelis during a two-year-old uprising for independence, claimed responsibility for Monday's Gaza assault.
It said it was avenging Israel's failed attempt to "assassinate" one of its field commanders in a helicopter gunship missile attack Sunday in the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials declined comment on the incident.
The past week has seen an escalation in violence despite Washington's calls for quiet to ensure Arab support as it prepares for a possible military campaign against Iraq.
At least 1,690 Palestinians and 668 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000.
Adding to tensions was Israel's disclosure of plans to demolish 15 Palestinian houses in Hebron to create a secure passage for Jewish worshippers going to pray at a biblical shrine in the divided West Bank city.
Israeli officials said the buildings were empty. Palestinian officials said they were home to 30 families.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had pledged to set up "security corridors" connecting tiny enclaves of Jewish settlers in the predominantly Palestinian city after an attack by Palestinian gunmen killed 12 soldiers and settler security men in November.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) condemned the plan as part of a "Judaisation process" to expel Arab residents.