At least five Palestinian militants were killed during an IDF raid on the West Bank village of Beit Rima. Palestinian Security chief Jibril Rajoub termed the action a "massacre." The IDF dismissed claims that it had prevented ambulances from evacuating the injured. Security forces announced the arrest of two terrorists who assisted in the assassination of Tourism Minister Rechavam Ze'evi.

Salah Allawi, resident of El-Azariya east of Jerusalem and Mahmed Rimawi of Beit Rima, were directly involved in assisting in Ze'evi's killing, security sources announced today. The two were arrested the day after the assassination. The assassin, himself, was not arrested, Army Radio reported.

ynet reported that the target of today's IDF action in Beit Rima was to capture additional members of the PFLP terrorist cell that carried out the assassination.

An official statement issued by the Palestinian Authority said, "The Israeli occupation army has committed a heinous massacre in the village of Beit Rima [this] morning. It has thus far murdered nine Palestinians and injured tens others. The occupation forces have also terrorized the residents and used tanks, armored vehicles, and helicopter gunships."

Media reports indicated that the dead included two

"Arafat is not preventing (terror), so we are preventing it." - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) as well as members of Hamas and Palestinian security forces. A Palestinian Authority policeman was one of the casualties and at least five people were injured in the IDF action.

Brig.-Gen. Gershon Yitzhak, commander of IDF forces in Judea and Samaria, said that the Palestinian claims were inflated "nonsense" and that five Palestinians were killed and two seriously wounded. Raanan Gissin, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman, said the Palestinians who were killed had opened fire on IDF troops and were then shot. Gissin said the IDF had warned the Palestinian Authority of its planned operation in the village.

In Beit Rima, Palestinian doctor Bassem Rimawi accused Israel of preventing emergency medical workers from entering the village for four hours, Reuters reported. Israeli sources said that the ambulances were only prevented from entering the village while the operation was taking place. Two seriously injured Palestinians were reportedly evacuated by IDF troops for emergency medical treatment at Tel Hashomer hospital and the others were treated on the scene by Palestinian Red Crescent medics.

Yitzhak said that 11 Palestinians were arrested in Beit Rima, described by the IDF Spokesman as home to a large terrorist infrastructure. The village apparently served as a bastion for the PFLP, the radical PLO faction that claimed the responsibility for last week's assassination of Tourism Minister Rechavam Ze'evi.

Gissin claimed that Ze'evi's assassins had left on their mission from the village. It was unclear if the Palestinians arrested were directly related to the killing.

"Tonight we have made very important arrests, that will no doubt affect the ability of terror organizations to continue to strike at us," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told a special session of the Knesset today, marking one week since Ze'evi's assassination. "Arafat is not preventing (terror), so we are preventing it," he said.

According to media reports, armored units, infantry soldiers from the Nahal Brigade and special forces participated in the raid, which began shortly after 2 a.m. Hamdan al Barghouti, deputy mayor of Beit Rima, said the IDF took over several houses in the village, and destroyed others, CNN reported.

The raid occurred just hours after U.S. President George W. Bush issued a strong demand to Israel to withdraw its forces from territories occupied around West Bank cities in the last week. Media reports suggested that IDF commanders were hurrying to complete planned military operations before an Israeli troop withdrawal begins, possibly within the next few days.

MK Mohammad Barakeh (Hadash) called on the government to stop "the massacre that the IDF is committing this morning in Beit Rima." Barakeh demanded that IDF forces leave the village in accordance with cease-fire agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinians.

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