JERUSALEM - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said on Thursday Israeli air strikes against his elite forces were the start of a 100-day military campaign against Palestinians.
Yesterday's helicopter missile attacks on bases and camps of Arafat's forces in the West Bank and Gaza were Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon's first military response to a wave of bombings. They were quickly followed by new clashes and deaths.
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian youths during a clash with about 50 protesters hurling stones and burning petrol bombs at a Gaza army post.
The army said it knew of no deaths but acknowledged troops had shot dead a Palestinian security force member it accused of opening fire near a Jewish settlement in Gaza. Palestinians said he had no weapons when he was taken to hospital.
Israel, which faces a six-month-old Palestinian uprising, said there could be more raids in response to the bomb attacks.
"This is an escalation," Arafat told reporters in Amman, the capital of Jordan, where he attended an Arab summit.
"An escalation for the next 100 days that has been described as a military plan by (Israeli Chief of Staff) General (Shaul) Mofaz," Arafat added.
Israel said the air strikes, which set ablaze buildings and vehicles, knocked out electricity, damaged Arafat's Gaza home and killed at least two people, were a warning to militants to halt their bomb attacks.
But Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahhar told Reuters in Gaza after the air strikes: "Our program of resistance will go on regardless of the Israeli assassinations and bombardments."
The military wing of Hamas, which has claimed responsibility for some of the bombings, says it has seven more suicide bombers lined up.
Palestinians denounced the raids as "state terrorism" and said they had set back any hopes of peace talks resuming without international mediation. They said Israel and Sharon's policies were to blame for the bloodshed.
A member of the Palestinian Force-17 security force and a civilian died and dozens of people were hurt in the air raids.
The attacks on Force-17, Arafat's elite security force, followed a Palestinian suicide bombing which killed two Israeli teenagers on Wednesday.
"It was a sort of a very serious warning signal and primarily against Force-17. Look, this force is on Arafat's payroll. Arafat must demand discipline from them," Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told Israel's Army Radio.
Aides to Arafat denounced the assaults.
"This is a dangerous escalation and it destroys the last chances of peace," Nabil Abu Rdainah told Reuters. "We hold the Israeli government fully responsibly for this deterioration."
A senior Israeli political source, speaking after Sharon's security cabinet met, said more attacks could follow.
"There will not be a policy of reaction to attacks, rather a consistent and stable policy over time of a war on terror initiated by Israel," the source said. "A decision was taken for the carrying out of more attacks in the coming days."
But Peres said there would be no raids if there was a halt to violence that began six months ago when Palestinians revolted against Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinians say it is up to Israel to halt the violence.
At least 359 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 69 other Israelis have been killed since the violence erupted in late September after peace talks became deadlocked.
Listing its targets, the army said it had fired missiles on Wednesday evening at the Ramallah headquarters of Force-17, which it says has been behind a number of bomb attacks.
In Gaza, an arsenal, a training camp and other installations used by Force-17 were hit, the Israeli army said.
Sharon has been under pressure to carry out promises to restore Israelis' security which he made before taking power earlier this month.
Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said negotiations could not be resumed under current circumstances and called for U.S. and European involvement in the peace process.
Palestinians are also angered by army blockades, including trenches dug around some Palestinian cities which have restricted their movement and choked their economy.
The United States said it saw no military solution to the conflict and urged all sides to end the bloodshed. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Peres had called Secretary of State Colin Powell to brief him about the strike.
- REUTERS
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