Arafat: God grant me martyrdom

By WAFA AMR

RAMALLAH - The Israeli Army pressed ahead with demolishing what was left of Yasser Arafat's besieged compound yesterday after he vowed not to give in to Israel and surrender wanted Palestinians holed up inside.

The Palestinian President was unmoved by Israel's action: "I hope God will grant me the honour of martyrdom. No one will be handed over to Israel," he told an Arab member of Israel's Parliament, Ahmed Tibi, by telephone.

Israeli heavy Machinery went to work tearing down a Governor's office and meeting hall next to Arafat's battered office block.

The destruction will leave the building where Arafat is trapped the only one standing in a rubble wasteland.

Thousands rallied in support of Arafat across the West Bank and Gaza Strip in defiance of Israeli curfews and to protest at the siege, which Israel launched on Friday after suicide bombings killed seven people.

Palestinian hospital officials said Israeli forces killed two Palestinians during a rally in Ramallah, one of them a Voice of Palestine radio journalist.

And two demonstrators were killed and 15 people wounded in the West Bank and Gaza by Israeli Army gunfire, they said.

Israeli military sources said the Army shot and killed two Palestinian gunmen when soldiers returned fire during street protests in Tulkarm and Balata near Nablus.

Israel is demanding Arafat turn over 20 wanted militants it says are in his compound. Arafat refuses.

"Everything we have done so far is to create a cordon. I hope these people will hand themselves over to us," Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio.

The demolition of most of Arafat's complex and his confinement to a few rooms left him looking more isolated than at any time since he returned to the Palestinian territories in 1994 under interim peace deals with Israel.

He is under pressure from the Palestinian Parliament to enact security and anti-corruption reforms the United States says are needed for any return to talks on statehood.

Showered with masonry dust after Israeli tank fire, Arafat yesterday called for an end to attacks inside Israel in his first public statement since the siege began.

From inside his battered office, Arafat also appealed for international intervention.

The Saudi Press Agency said he telephoned Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to discuss the siege.

Malaysia's Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, said he would ask Western leaders to intervene after Arafat asked him for help.

But Israel rejected international calls to ease up on the 73-year-old leader and tightened its chokehold yesterday.

It was unclear if Arafat, whom Israel said it had no intention of harming, was included in the surrender demand. Israeli Army Radio said the military had no plans to destroy the building in which Arafat has become a virtual prisoner.

"There are 200 people inside the main building ... and our mission is to have everyone inside leave. The wanted men among them will be arrested," said a senior Israeli commander.

"Anyone who is not wanted for questioning will be released."

Israel's confinement of Arafat raised fears of a new surge of violence that could complicate Washington's plans for possible war on Iraq.

Palestinians say Israeli military clampdowns during their two-year uprising in search of statehood make it impossible for Arafat's battered security forces to act.

In a written statement released by the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Arafat said: "We are ready for peace but not for capitulation and we will not give up Jerusalem or a grain of our soil which are guaranteed to us by international law."

Senior Palestinian officials said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had turned down a US proposal to let Palestinian negotiators into the compound to start talks on ending the stalemate.

"Sharon does not want negotiations," said one Israeli official.

"He wants total surrender and the situation will keep deteriorating until the surrender. This time, it's serious."

- REUTERS

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