Hamas founder arrested

BUREIJ REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip -- Israeli troops raiding a Gaza refugee camp arrested a Hamas founder Monday, targeting the political leadership of the Islamic militant group for the first time in 29 months of fighting. Eight Palestinians, among them a pregnant woman, were killed in clashes in the camp.\nTroops also blew up four homes in the Bureij camp, including that of Hamas co-founder Mohammed Taha, 65, who was wounded in clashes with soldiers, the army said. Several adjacent houses and a mosque were damaged by the blasts.\nTaha's five sons were also arrested. One son, Ayman, who was also wounded Monday, is the assistant of the top Hamas bombmaker, the army said.\nThe arrests signaled a turning point in Israel's dealings with Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in shootings and bombings. Since the outbreak of fighting in September 2000, Israel has killed scores of Hamas militants and rounded up hundreds of activists, but left the political leadership in Gaza alone.\n"This is a continuation of the escalated aggression against our people and our holy places," Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat told The Associated Press. His Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat called for U.S. intervention to stop Israel's actions, saying that "silence to these crimes is an encouragement for their reoccurrence."\nAlso Monday near Nablus, the West Bank's largest city, a Palestinian man was shot by troops as he skirted an Israeli army checkpoint, Palestinian security officials said. Doctors said he was hit in the leg, severing an artery, and bled to death before reaching the hospital. The army had no immediate comment.\nMohammed Taha founded Hamas in 1987, along with the group's spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin. Since then, the group has emerged as Arafat's biggest political rival. Mohammed and Ayman Taha were among about 400 suspected Islamic militants Israel deported to Lebanon for a year in 1992.\nSince the outbreak of fighting in September 2000, Hamas has killed hundreds of Israelis in bombings and shootings. In response, Israel has rounded up many Hamas activists, including leaders of the military wing. It has not targeted the political leadership, however, instead hitting installations of Palestinian security forces.\nIsraeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said Sunday the military would step up strikes against Hamas. "We want to arrive at a situation where the terror organizations invest more and more (effort) defending themselves," he said.\nMonday's incursion began at about 2 a.m. when jeeps and tanks backed by helicopters rolled into Bureij in central Gaza. Fierce fighting erupted, and hospital doctors said eight Palestinians were killed. Five were gunmen and three were civilians.\nThe woman was killed when her house collapsed on her during the demolition of a nearby building, doctors and her family said. Six other family members were injured, including the woman's husband and two of her sons.\nIsraeli soldiers prevented ambulances from evacuating the wounded from Bureij for several hours. Assaf Liberati, an army spokesman, said the first priority was to protect soldiers, and that there was concern that some of the ambulances were booby-trapped.\nThe army said it demolished four houses of militants, including the two-story Taha family home and the home of a suicide bomber. Hand grenades were thrown from the Taha house at soldiers who returned fire, wounding Mohammed and Ayman Taha before arresting them, the army said. In blowing up the house, troops damaged the outer wall of an adjacent mosque where Mohammed Taha was a preacher.\nThe military confirmed that soldiers entered the mosque, looking for weapons. An Associated Press reporter touring the mosque saw windows smashed and bullet holes in the facade, apparently from Israeli helicopter fire; the mosque is in an alley too narrow for ground fighting. The army denied the damage was deliberate.\nThe demolition of the four homes severely damaged another 11 homes, rendering them uninhabitable and leaving about 150 people homeless, said the mayor of Bureij, Kamal Baghdadi.\nAn Israeli army spokeswoman, Maj. Sharon Feingold, said Taha "is one of the most senior Hamas activists and terrorists, and I am happy to say he is in our hands." She said the raid "is a clear message to the terrorists that ... there's a price to be paid"