Israel Launches Air Strikes in Gaza, West Bank
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By Matt Spetalnick
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel launched air strikes on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s helicopter compound in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and hit targets in the West Bank city of Jenin on Monday in retaliation for a wave of suicide bombings.
An Israeli political source said the rapid succession of attacks was just the beginning of Israel's response to weekend bombings that killed 25 people in Jerusalem and Haifa.
``There will be more serious things to come,'' he said.
A helicopter missile strike wrecked three of Arafat's helicopters and damaged a hangar in densely populated Gaza City. At least 17 people were injured, hospital officials said.
Little more than an hour later, two Israeli warplanes fired missiles at one of Arafat's West Bank offices and a Palestinian police headquarters in Jenin, witnesses and army officials said. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
In Gaza, people fled the packed streets in panic as columns of smoke rose into the air.
Arafat, who has been held responsible by Israel for one of the most devastating waves of Palestinian suicide attacks in years, was not in the city at the time.
The surge of violence threatens to wreck a U.S. peace drive in the region that is intended to help bolster Arab support for the U.S.-led anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan (news - web sites) after the September 11 suicide-plane attacks on the United States.
Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said the missile strike showed Israel was trying to destroy Arafat's Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) and he called on the United States to force a halt to the bombardment.
Arafat's helicopters have been regarded by Israelis and Palestinians alike as a symbol of his freedom of movement in governing Palestinian areas that he wants for the creation of an independent state.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) sent the helicopter gunships into action after returning from talks in Washington with President Bush (news - web sites), who dispatched an envoy last week to launch a new peace mission.
``Obviously Israel has the right to defend itself and the president understands that clearly,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) told reporters.
ISRAEL SAYS ATTACK IS SIGNAL TO ARAFAT
Arafat's Palestinian Authority has dismissed suggestions he was to blame for the weekend attacks by failing to crack down on violence and hIs security forces say they have arrested more than 100 militants since the bombings.
The militant movement Hamas took responsibility for the suicide bombings, which opened a bloody new phase in 14 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence in which at least 742 Palestinians and 222 Israelis have been killed.
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Israeli government spokesman Raanan Gissin said the missile strike ``was intended to send a very clear signal either Arafat...will fight terrorism or we will have to do it.''
``It was not an attack on the home or the compound of Mr. Arafat but on the helicopter and helicopter landing pad,'' he told CNN television.
Three Israeli attack helicopters were seen off the coast of the Gaza Strip firing at least 14 missiles in quick succession followed by heavy machinegun fire.
Three of Arafat's helicopters were left in flames at the compound, about 70 yards from Arafat's home and 200 yards from his main offices. Arafat was in the West Bank city of Ramallah at the time, officials said.
The attacks began shortly after Sharon ended emergency talks on how to respond to the weekend suicide attacks in Jerusalem and the northern port city of Haifa. More than 200 people were wounded in the bombings.
Israeli media said Sharon, his top ministers and security chiefs had agreed to take tougher measures against the Palestinians following the weekend bomb attacks.
``I think Sharon wants to destroy the peace process and the Palestinian Authority,'' Erekat said. ``He should know that bloodshed breeds bloodshed. I was in touch with the Americans and asked them to immediately stop Sharon's random bombardments (of Gaza).''
ARRESTS OF MILITANTS
The Palestinian security forces started arresting militants after the Palestinian Authority condemned the weekend suicide attacks. But some Palestinians opposed the arrests.
``Forward with martyrdom attacks!'' a crowd chanted at a funeral rally in Gaza. Several hundred students at a rally in the West Bank city of Nablus chanted ``Allahu Akbar'' (God is greater) when speakers criticized the arrests.
Some Israeli officials dismissed the arrests as a sham and demanded more action by Arafat to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks.
But Jibril al-Rajoub, head of Palestinian Preventive Security in the West Bank, told Reuters: ``The Palestinian Authority is serious and there is no compromise with those people, individuals or groups.''
Sharon went straight into talks with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and security chiefs after returning from the United States. He was due to address the nation in a live television broadcast on Monday evening.
Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian near the West Bank town of Jenin earlier on Monday. The army said troops thought the man was trying to place a bomb but found none on him. Palestinian officials said he was a farmer going to work.
The army said earlier troops had killed four gunmen near Jenin on Sunday in an exchange of fire. |
