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Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (3513)	3/31/2002 7:22:59 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15516

Sharon Says Israel at War; Suicide Bomber Strikes Sun Mar 31, 4:32 PM ET By Timothy Heritage JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday Israel was at war and vowed to crush Palestinian "terrorism" after a suicide bomber killed 15 people and Yasser Arafat 's guards battled troops besieging his headquarters. The Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a restaurant in the Israeli port city of Haifa, also wounding more than 40 people in a blast that tore off the roof and spewed debris over a car park. Two hours later, a second suicide attack wounded six people at a Jewish settlement in the West Bank and Israeli troops fought Arafat's guards and tightened their ring around his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Witnesses said tanks later rumbled into the West Bank city of Qalqilya, and fears of all-out war were growing after 18 months of tit-for-tat violence since the Palestinians rose up against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip ). "Citizens of Israel: the state of Israel is at war, a war against terror," Sharon said in a brief televised address. "We must fight this terrorism, in an uncompromising war to uproot these savages, to dismantle their infrastructure, because there is no compromise with terrorists." He said Arafat "activated, coordinated and directed" the campaign against Israel and that he was "the enemy of the free world." A cease-fire would be possible once the campaign against the Palestinians had been completed, he said. "The state of Israel is at a decisive point in its history. The situation is not easy, but...we will prevail." The Palestinians swiftly rejected Sharon's comments. "This is Sharon's style, nothing new and nothing surprising. But by claiming he will extend his hand for peace after he completes his mission, Sharon is only making a silly joke," said Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. "The world knows what hand Sharon has extended. It is the hand that carries the tools of killing and it is the hand soaked with the blood of the people in the region, including that of the Palestinian people." In an interview for broadcast on CBS TV's "60 Minutes," Sharon said he would take part if the United States called a Middle East peace meeting with Arab leaders. SERIES OF SUICIDE ATTACKS The Haifa blast and the assault on the Efrat settlement two hours later were the fourth and fifth suicide attacks since the Jewish Passover holiday began last Wednesday. Witnesses said at least two people were killed and six of Arafat's guards wounded in the latest fighting in Ramallah, and scores of Palestinians were arrested in the city. Palestinian security sources and residents of Qalqilya said tanks had entered the city from three sides after Sharon addressed the nation. Qalqilya is on the West Bank border with Israel, which says attacks have been launched from there. The army did not comment on the report. Violence raged on despite an Easter Sunday appeal for peace by Pope John Paul (news - web sites) and a call by the United Nations (news - web sites), including the United States, for Israel to withdraw troops from Ramallah and other West Bank cities. Israel ignored the U.N. appeal. "It seems that war has been declared on peace," the Pope said in his message from the Vatican (news - web sites), calling for an end to the "dramatic spiral of abuse of power and killings that bloody the Holy Land." The Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas said a 22-year-old resident of a refugee camp in the northern West Bank town of Jenin carried out the attack in Haifa on its behalf to avenge the Israeli attacks on Ramallah and elsewhere. "I was outside when I heard a huge explosion. I went into the restaurant and saw some of the people burning up, some already dead. I began taking out the wounded, with a few of them I had to put out the flames first," an Israeli, identified only as Shimon, said. The United States condemned the bombing and urged Arafat to stop such attacks. President Bush urged Arafat on Saturday to use his own forces to prevent them. He did not call for an Israeli withdrawal from Ramallah. ARAFAT VOWS NO SURRENDER Arafat, his pistol at his side in a building meters away from the shooting at his headquarters, has said he would rather die than surrender to a siege that Sharon says is intended to isolate the Palestinian leader and end suicide attacks. Palestinian officials said Israel tried to storm the building where Arafat was holed up. Israel denied this. Israel later ordered all foreigners out of Ramallah. The Ramallah-based International Media Center said 10 members of an international peace group who marched into Arafat's compound in the city earlier Sunday were arrested by the surrounding troops, but 33 others remained inside. The Israeli army said it had arrested "several" foreigners who had defied its closure order on Ramallah. Arafat said he had told Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) by telephone that international forces were needed to stop "this aggression and military escalation against our people, against our cities, against our towns, against our refugee camps." Israeli soldiers conducted house-to-house searches in Ramallah. Smashed cars were strewn across the city, pavements were chewed up and at least 50 tanks had taken up positions in the center of Ramallah, 15 km (nine miles) north of Jerusalem. Troops fired at water tanks and water gushed out. Israel launched its onslaught against Arafat early Friday after a suicide bombing that killed 22 Israelis in the coastal resort of Netanya last Wednesday. That suicide bombing was the bloodiest since the start of a conflict that has killed at least 1,127 Palestinians and 399 Israelis since September 2000. Israeli security sources said five of the dead in Haifa were Israeli Arabs. Suicide bombings wounded 32 people in a Tel Aviv restaurant Saturday night and killed two people at a supermarket in Jerusalem Friday. story.news.yahoo.com