The Popular Resistance Committees
have taken responsibility for the recent rocket attacks from Gaza.
Al-Nasser Salah al-Din Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, on Sunday claimed responsibility for launching rockets from the Gaza Strip toward southern Israel.
The shelling is part of "our retaliation to the Israeli crimes against our Palestinian people in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the ongoing violations against prisoners," according to the statement.
The statement marks the first time a Palestinian faction claims responsibility for the upsurge in rockets launched from Gaza since Israel launched a massive military deployment across the West Bank in mid-June in pursuit of three missing Israeli teenagers.
On their homepage, they are
celebrating the 8th anniversary of one of their terror attacks:
Today is the eighth anniversary of the killing of Zionist soldier Eliyahu Asheri who was killed in the West Bank at the hands of mujahedeen heroes under the name "Operation Angry Knights" ...
In light of these jihadist memories we emphasize the following: First, we confirm that the option of kidnapping Zionist soldiers is our choice and our highest priority at the current stage as long as there are Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and we will not give up this right and no obstacle will stand in our way. Secondly, we call on all Palestinian factions to work in the trench of blood and flesh that will bring victory and pride and liberation and liberation of our brave prisoners of the Zionist occupation and appreciate the steadfastness of our prisoners and unite with them behind the walls and the bars. Thirdly, we call on the Arab nation and Islamic countries to pay attention and put all their power to the issue of Palestinian and Arab prisoners in the prisons of the Zionist enemy and work through all political and military means to liberate them all, and that the blood of the Palestinian and Arab-Muslim have a heavy price, and the enemy should know about it and we are willing to strive and penetrate the border in order to obtain the freedom of our prisoners from the prisons and to liberate our people from the great siege and imprisonment.
Eliyahu Asheri
was not a soldier.
Eliyahu Pinchas Asheri (February 2, 1988 – June 25, 2006) was an Israeli student from the settlement of Itamar, in the northern West Bank. He was a student at the religious pre-army Mechina (preparatory program) "Elisha" in Neveh Tzuf.
On Sunday, June 25, 2006, Eliyahu was kidnapped while on his way from Beitar Illit to Neveh Tzuf, northwest of Ramallah. Asheri was last seen on 9:00 pm Sunday night, after he left the home of a friend in Betar Illit and was hitchhiking near the French Hill intersection of Jerusalem by one of his classmates.
On Tuesday, the Palestinian militant group Popular Resistance Committees initially announced that the group has kidnapped a Jewish settler in the West Bank. On Wednesday, June 28, Abu Abir, the spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, stated that Asheri would be "butchered in front of TV cameras" if Israel did not suspend its Operation Summer Rains into the Gaza Strip, which took place is in response to the kidnapping of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) corporal Gilad Shalit.Later on that day the Popular Resistance Committees stated that Asheri was slain.
Around 2:30 am on June 29, the IDF recovered the body of Asheri which had been buried in an open field near the village of Beitunia, not far from Ramallah. The forensic investigation revealed that Asheri he was shot to death by a bullet to the head from close range, possibly the same day in which he was abducted. The IDF had been led to the site by the Palestinian militant Wasam Abu Ragila, whom was a prime suspect of the murder of Asheri, whom had been arrested on Wednesday by the Israeli police anti-terror unit and IDF troops and whom confessed in his investigation about his part in the kidnapping and murder of Asheri and gave specific details about the location of Asheri's body.
On the morning hours of 4 July 2006, during a joint operation conducted by the IDF and the Israel Security Authorities, the three Tanzim militants whom murdered Eliyahu Asheri and whom were hiding in the a Palestinian Police headquarters building in Ramallah, were apprehended after a three-hour standoff. The three men were Bassam Shafik Atiya Ahtiya, Khamze Salah Taktuk, and I'iam Fuab Naaef Kamamju. All three were reported to be members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and had been serving in the security forces of the Palestinian Authority.
While the PRC took responsibility, it was Fatah terrorists that kidnapped and murdered Eliyahu, and they were protected by the PA.
