5: SALFIT

Reporter Ben Lynfield, a Middle East journalist whose articles on Israel have often appeared in the Monitor, writes for The Scotsman:

Morale among Palestinians in Salfit was high despite an Israeli siege that virtually severs Salfit from its sister city, Nablus. The air strike, in which eight people were wounded, has even produced a new legend akin to the story of the American Star Spangled Banner that withstood British bombardment at Fort McHenry, Maryland in 1812.

Neighbors whose houses were shaken by the F-16s insist that the Palestinian flag fluttering yesterday atop the ruins of the police station, and a huge poster of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, had somehow survived the bombardment. "These are symbols of the justice and resolve of the Palestinian people," said one man.

Major Mohammed Jaaber, the local police commander, said, however, that the new legend has no basis in fact. "We raised the flag after the missile strike to show we are on our land, that the Palestinian people will always rise up from the rubble."

Jaaber also says that there was no reason for Israel to attack Salfit, which had been quiet for months. "The Israelis don't aim only at the place where Palestinian shooting came from, but at all Palestinian Authority targets in order to weaken the authority and destroy its institutions," he said. "That is Sharon's goal. My police were hit because they provided services to the Palestinian society."