Israelis storm Arafat's compound
By Saud Abu Ramadan
From the International Desk
Published 6/5/2002 8:31 PM
GAZA, June 5 (UPI) -- Israeli armored vehicles entered early Thursday the compound of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Palestinian security sources said.
Fierce clashes were reported between Israeli troops and Arafat's guards. Medical sources said at least 30 Palestinians suffered injuries.
Several tanks and bulldozers rolled into the area as other tanks patrolled Ramallah. There was constant gunfire and heavy shelling in Arafat's compound, Saeb Erakat, a senior Palestinian negotiator, told CNN.
Arafat, who was in his office at the time of the incursion, told Erakat to contact officials from the United States, Europe and the United Nations in an effort to end the military operation.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment. The Israeli incursion came hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives next to a crowded bus in northern Israel, leaving at least 17 people dead and 37 wounded.
Israeli military officials late Wednesday imposed a curfew in the Palestinian refugee town of Jenin.
The military wing of the Islamic Jihad, whose stronghold is in Jenin, claimed responsibility for the attack via broadcast by al Manar, a pro-Hezbollah Islamic resistance movement satellite television station in south Lebanon. The attack happened near the town of Megiddo, about 35 miles northeast of Tel Aviv.
Asked earlier Wednesday whether the White House would yet again ask Arafat to stamp down terrorist bombings among his people, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said President Bush was "less focused" on dealing with "any one individual," a change from the administration's previous entreaties to Arafat to control extremist factions.
"The president this morning condemns the ... terror attack that took place in Israel in the strongest terms," said Fleischer, saying Bush urged the Palestinian Authority to develop a reliable security force that could stop or prevent the attacks.
The statement was a shift from the Bush White House's past demands in statements following terror attacks on Israelis that Arafat reign in suicide bombers from primarily the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade and Hamas militant groups.
Other radical groups Arafat has tried to quell include the Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
(Kathy Gambrell in Washington contributed to this report)
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