Fatah claims responsibility for attack
Photo: Reuters
Fatah activists belonging to the "Brigades of Return" and to "Black September" claimed responsibility for carrying out the shooting attack in
Shoafat Thursday evening. The attack left one Israeli dead and another one seriously wounded.
A spokesman on behalf of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's military wing, told Ynet that the attackers "returned to their base safely."
The Fatah spokesman called a Ynet reporter to claim responsibility for the attack and said it marked the continuation of the organization's new policy, as reported last week in another talk with Ynet. In that talk, the group said it was no longer committed to the calm with Israel and added that small cells were again active across the West Bank in order to prepare for a series of attacks.
"This is our proof that we are no longer committed to the calm and that we do not intend to continue handing over our weapons," the spokesman said. "We are only committed to resistance against the Israeli occupation. The next attacks are already underway, we promised a response within a few days and this is the first operation in a series of operations."
The spokesman refused to address the attack's implications on diplomatic negotiations currently underway and said that at this time his organization was only committed to "respond to Israel's crimes in the Strip and to the killing of group members in the West Bank."
Last week, one of al-Aqsa Brigades' leaders in the Nablus area was killed by IDF troops in the Balata refugee camp.