SOS
03-29-2002, 10:51 AM
Israel Declares Arafat an Enemy;
Troops Break Into His Compound
Associated Press
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Israel declared Yasser Arafat an enemy Friday and troops and tanks broke into his West Bank compound, battling his security forces and shelling the building where Mr. Arafat took refuge in a windowless, ground-floor room.
Five Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in the fighting, which is part of a large-scale military operation launched in response to Palestinian attacks.
Aides said the building where Mr. Arafat's office is located came under heavy tank and machine-gun fire, but the Palestinian leader was unhurt. "They want me under arrest or in exile or dead, but I am telling them, I prefer to be martyred," Mr. Arafat said in a telephone interview with Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite-television channel. "May God make us martyrs."
After a string of attacks that killed at least 27 Israeli civilians in three days, Israel's cabinet approved an extended military operation and agreed to call up thousands of reserve troops. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel had sought a cease-fire in good faith, "but all Israel got in return was terrorism, terrorism and more terrorism."
In the latest Palestinian attack, a woman suicide bomber blew herself up at the entrance of a Jerusalem supermarket, killing herself and two shoppers and wounding about 20 others. The attack was claimed by the Al-Aqsa Brigades, a militia linked to Mr. Arafat's Fatah movement.
Police also stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, using stun grenades to disperse stone-throwing Muslim worshippers.
Friday's assault in Ramallah marked the first time that Mr. Arafat's office building has been targeted. In the past 18 months of fighting, Israel has repeatedly shelled other buildings in the sprawling compound. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said there was no intention to harm Mr. Arafat, but the fire on his building made the situation volatile.
Israeli troops stormed Mr. Arafat's compound early Friday. Tank shells punched holes in the wall, ringing the complex, and troops took over two buildings. Snipers set up positions on rooftops, giving them a clear view of Mr. Arafat's third-floor office. Soldiers exchanged fire with the Palestinian leader's guards, killing one and wounding 25.
In the afternoon, Israeli tanks moved close to the office building and began firing shells and machine guns at the building, Mr. Arafat's aides said.
The violence appeared to doom the latest U.S. truce mission, though U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni was to remain in the region. Mr. Zinni met Friday with Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat in the West Bank town of Jericho, Palestinian officials said.
The fighting came as an Arab summit in Beirut on Thursday approved a plan that offers Israel peace and normal relations with the Arab world in exchange for its withdrawal from territory captured in the 1967 Mideast war, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for refugees.
The plan marked the first time in more than a half-century of Mideast conflict that Arab states have made such an offer. Israel said it would study the plan, but its top priority was responding to Palestinian attacks.
Palestinians in Lebanon's Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp burned tires in protest, while Arab politicians decried the assault on Mr. Arafat as Israel's answer to their call for peace.
The latest escalation began with a suicide bombing by the Islamic militant group Hamas on Wednesday in a hotel in the Israeli resort of Netanya. The bomber blew himself up in the hotel's banquet hall, among 250 Israelis gathered for the Passover Seder, the ritual meal ushering in the Jewish holiday. Twenty-two diners were killed -- one died of wounds Friday -- and more than 130 were hurt, putting the attack on par with a suicide bombing outside a Tel Aviv disco last June that also killed 22 Israelis.
The bombing was widely seen as a turning point in 18 months of fighting. It was followed by more attacks -- an infiltration into a Jewish settlement in the West Bank on Thursday that killed four Israelis, another settlement attack in the Gaza Strip on Friday that killed two Israelis and the supermarket suicide bombing Friday.
In response, Israel's cabinet met for an all-night session. Mr. Sharon announced Friday that Israel now considered Mr. Arafat an enemy and would completely isolate him. The cabinet also approved a large-scale military operation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the call for thousands of reserve soldiers, the largest mobilization in a decade.
Mr. Sharon didn't explain what branding Mr. Arafat an enemy would mean in practical terms, but left open the possibility that the Palestinian leader could be expelled from the Palestinian territories at a later time as several Israeli cabinet ministers have demanded.
Mr. Ben-Eliezer said no Palestinian engaged in terror activity against Israel was immune from Israeli reprisals. He said the new Israeli operation didn't aim to capture territory; rather, "to fight against the terrorist infrastructure."
Mr. Arafat has accused Israel of scuttling peace efforts. "This brutal aggression is a response to the Arab summit in Beirut," Mr. Arafat told Abu Dhabi television. "This is the Israeli response to any peace attempt. Because they don't want peace, they don't want peace."
Early Friday, as the cabinet was still meeting, tanks rolled into Ramallah, and soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen. Four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in the fighting.
The tanks then began the assault on Mr. Arafat's compound. "The Israeli forces are surrounding my office with tanks," Mr. Arafat said. "They are shelling the headquarters, and we have some people who are injured, and can't move them to the hospitals."
Earlier this month, the Israeli military had carried out an extensive operation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, sending 20,000 soldiers into towns, villages and refugee camps in a hunt for Palestinian militants. That operation was the biggest since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
Mr. Arafat said Thursday night that he was ready for an immediate, unconditional truce, but he stopped short of formally declaring a cease-fire.
Speaking at a news conference in Ramallah, he said the Palestinians had informed Mr. Zinni of "our readiness for an immediate implementation of the [U.S. truce] plan without any conditions." The Palestinians have been holding out for some changes, while Israel accepted Mr. Zinni's bridging proposals reluctantly.
Copyright © 2002 Associated Press
Updated March 29, 2002 9:39 a.m. EST
Troops Break Into His Compound
Associated Press
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Israel declared Yasser Arafat an enemy Friday and troops and tanks broke into his West Bank compound, battling his security forces and shelling the building where Mr. Arafat took refuge in a windowless, ground-floor room.
Five Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in the fighting, which is part of a large-scale military operation launched in response to Palestinian attacks.
Aides said the building where Mr. Arafat's office is located came under heavy tank and machine-gun fire, but the Palestinian leader was unhurt. "They want me under arrest or in exile or dead, but I am telling them, I prefer to be martyred," Mr. Arafat said in a telephone interview with Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite-television channel. "May God make us martyrs."
After a string of attacks that killed at least 27 Israeli civilians in three days, Israel's cabinet approved an extended military operation and agreed to call up thousands of reserve troops. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel had sought a cease-fire in good faith, "but all Israel got in return was terrorism, terrorism and more terrorism."
In the latest Palestinian attack, a woman suicide bomber blew herself up at the entrance of a Jerusalem supermarket, killing herself and two shoppers and wounding about 20 others. The attack was claimed by the Al-Aqsa Brigades, a militia linked to Mr. Arafat's Fatah movement.
Police also stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, using stun grenades to disperse stone-throwing Muslim worshippers.
Friday's assault in Ramallah marked the first time that Mr. Arafat's office building has been targeted. In the past 18 months of fighting, Israel has repeatedly shelled other buildings in the sprawling compound. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said there was no intention to harm Mr. Arafat, but the fire on his building made the situation volatile.
Israeli troops stormed Mr. Arafat's compound early Friday. Tank shells punched holes in the wall, ringing the complex, and troops took over two buildings. Snipers set up positions on rooftops, giving them a clear view of Mr. Arafat's third-floor office. Soldiers exchanged fire with the Palestinian leader's guards, killing one and wounding 25.
In the afternoon, Israeli tanks moved close to the office building and began firing shells and machine guns at the building, Mr. Arafat's aides said.
The violence appeared to doom the latest U.S. truce mission, though U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni was to remain in the region. Mr. Zinni met Friday with Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat in the West Bank town of Jericho, Palestinian officials said.
The fighting came as an Arab summit in Beirut on Thursday approved a plan that offers Israel peace and normal relations with the Arab world in exchange for its withdrawal from territory captured in the 1967 Mideast war, creation of a Palestinian state and a "just solution" for refugees.
The plan marked the first time in more than a half-century of Mideast conflict that Arab states have made such an offer. Israel said it would study the plan, but its top priority was responding to Palestinian attacks.
Palestinians in Lebanon's Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp burned tires in protest, while Arab politicians decried the assault on Mr. Arafat as Israel's answer to their call for peace.
The latest escalation began with a suicide bombing by the Islamic militant group Hamas on Wednesday in a hotel in the Israeli resort of Netanya. The bomber blew himself up in the hotel's banquet hall, among 250 Israelis gathered for the Passover Seder, the ritual meal ushering in the Jewish holiday. Twenty-two diners were killed -- one died of wounds Friday -- and more than 130 were hurt, putting the attack on par with a suicide bombing outside a Tel Aviv disco last June that also killed 22 Israelis.
The bombing was widely seen as a turning point in 18 months of fighting. It was followed by more attacks -- an infiltration into a Jewish settlement in the West Bank on Thursday that killed four Israelis, another settlement attack in the Gaza Strip on Friday that killed two Israelis and the supermarket suicide bombing Friday.
In response, Israel's cabinet met for an all-night session. Mr. Sharon announced Friday that Israel now considered Mr. Arafat an enemy and would completely isolate him. The cabinet also approved a large-scale military operation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the call for thousands of reserve soldiers, the largest mobilization in a decade.
Mr. Sharon didn't explain what branding Mr. Arafat an enemy would mean in practical terms, but left open the possibility that the Palestinian leader could be expelled from the Palestinian territories at a later time as several Israeli cabinet ministers have demanded.
Mr. Ben-Eliezer said no Palestinian engaged in terror activity against Israel was immune from Israeli reprisals. He said the new Israeli operation didn't aim to capture territory; rather, "to fight against the terrorist infrastructure."
Mr. Arafat has accused Israel of scuttling peace efforts. "This brutal aggression is a response to the Arab summit in Beirut," Mr. Arafat told Abu Dhabi television. "This is the Israeli response to any peace attempt. Because they don't want peace, they don't want peace."
Early Friday, as the cabinet was still meeting, tanks rolled into Ramallah, and soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen. Four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in the fighting.
The tanks then began the assault on Mr. Arafat's compound. "The Israeli forces are surrounding my office with tanks," Mr. Arafat said. "They are shelling the headquarters, and we have some people who are injured, and can't move them to the hospitals."
Earlier this month, the Israeli military had carried out an extensive operation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, sending 20,000 soldiers into towns, villages and refugee camps in a hunt for Palestinian militants. That operation was the biggest since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
Mr. Arafat said Thursday night that he was ready for an immediate, unconditional truce, but he stopped short of formally declaring a cease-fire.
Speaking at a news conference in Ramallah, he said the Palestinians had informed Mr. Zinni of "our readiness for an immediate implementation of the [U.S. truce] plan without any conditions." The Palestinians have been holding out for some changes, while Israel accepted Mr. Zinni's bridging proposals reluctantly.
Copyright © 2002 Associated Press
Updated March 29, 2002 9:39 a.m. EST