Arafat Compound Under Siege

20/09/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: Israel Demands the Handover of 20 Resistance Activists, it Says, Hiding inside the Arafat Compound||Israel's List of Wanted Activists Includes, Twfiq Tirawi, Powerful Head of West Bank General Intelligence||Two Arafat Guards Wounded in Gun Battle at Beginning of Operation||PA Calls on International Community to Intervene to End Aggression||Two Palestinians Killed, Three Israeli Occupation Soldiers Wounded, Seven Buildings & a So-called Explosive Lab Destroyed in Gaza Sweep|| STORY: Israeli occupation forces kept Yasser Arafat under siege in his West Bank compound and sent tanks deep into the Gaza Strip Friday after a Palestinian Resistance bomber killed five people on an Israeli bus.

Israel said it stormed Arafat's Ramallah base Thursday night to isolate the Palestinian leader and force the surrender of up to 20 wanted Resistance activists inside. The Israeli occupation army said it destroyed more than 10 structures and caravans in the compound.

Palestinian officials said Arafat was unhurt, but two of his bodyguards were wounded in what the occupation army described as an exchange of fire at the start of the operation.

Israeli officials said the Israeli cabinet, meeting in emergency session Thursday, made no decision to exile Arafat, an edict that would stir Arab anger as Israel's main ally, the United States, seeks support for war against Iraq.

Thursday's blast in Tel Aviv followed an explosion in northern Israel that killed a policeman and shattered a six-week lull in Resistance bombings, raising fears of a new wave of such attacks and again dimming peace hopes.

The Palestinian Authority called on the international community to "immediately stop this aggression."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Tel Aviv attack, which defied calls within Arafat's Palestinian Authority for an end to attacks against Israeli civilians.

Israel accuses Arafat of doing nothing to prevent activists carrying out Resistance bombings against its citizens. The Palestinian Authority says it can do little with Israeli occupation forces reoccupying much of the West Bank since June.

Twenty Palestinians surrendered at the Ramallah compound hours after the siege began, the occupation army said.

But an Israeli occupation army source said "they weren't all the 20" on Israel's wanted list, which includes Tawfiq Tirawi, powerful head of West Bank general intelligence, and the operation was continuing.

Arafat has hardly left Ramallah, the Palestinians' main political and commercial hub 20 km north of Jerusalem, since December when Israel first put him under siege after attacks on occupation targets and symbols. 

TWO PALESTINIANS KILLED, THREE ISRAELI OCCUPATION SOLDIERS INJURED, SEVEN BUILDINGS AND A SO-CALLED EXPLOSIVES LAB DESTROYED IN GAZA SWEEP

The Ramallah siege was followed by an Israeli sweep into the northern Gaza Strip spearheaded by several dozen tanks backed by helicopter gunships.

The occupation army, which has stepped up such operations in recent weeks following mortar bomb attacks on internationally illegal Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, said its forces destroyed seven buildings where weapons were made and an explosives lab.

Witnesses said Israeli occupation forces had pushed four km (2.5 miles) into the northern Gaza Strip, their deepest move into the area since a Palestinian uprising for statehood began two years ago.

Palestinian hospital officials said a man and a woman were killed by Israeli gunfire. The occupation army said several Palestinian Resistance men had shot at its troops and were hit by return fire. Three occupation soldiers were wounded in the operation.

Thursday's developments ratcheted up tensions to their highest level in months less than two weeks shy of the second anniversary of the Palestinian uprising, in which at least 1,547 Palestinians and 594 Israelis have been killed.

In separate confrontations Thursday, Israeli occupation troops shot dead a 10-year-old boy who was stoning an Israeli tank in the West Bank, Palestinian witnesses said. The army had no comment.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli army tank and an army jeep move into Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah Thursday Sept. 19, 2002. Israeli tanks moved into Arafat's headquarters compoundin Ramallah a few hours after a Palestinian man blew himself up on a bus in Tel Aviv, killing 5 and wounding at least 50 others. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
- Sep 19 6:25 PM