Israeli army storms Arafat HQ again after bombing

UPDATE - 3.30pm

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Israeli tanks stormed into Yasser Arafat's presidential compound and shelled his offices on Thursday after a Palestinian suicide car bomber killed at least 16 people in Israel, Palestinian officials said.

Aides to Arafat said parts of the complex containing the Palestinian president's sleeping quarters were badly damaged by shelling and machinegun fire but he was unhurt and remained safe inside the compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The bombing by an Islamic militant on Wednesday and the army raid dealt heavy blows to fresh diplomacy aimed at reviving Middle East peace talks and averting all-out war after 20 months of conflict.

Palestinian security sources said at least one Palestinian, an intelligence officer, had been killed by the tank shelling and at least six people in the compound were wounded.

Explosions and gunfire shook the headquarters and security officials inside reported heavy damage to the complex, already pock-marked by bullets and shelling during a five-week Israeli army siege that ended little over a month ago.

Israeli military sources said the army had surrounded Arafat's compound and were exchanging fire with Palestinian security men inside, but gave no other details.

It was not clear whether Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has declared Arafat an enemy who is irrelevant to peacemaking, now wanted to oust his old foe or hoped merely to increase pressure on him to halt suicide attacks by militants.

After the bombing, Sharon delayed his departure on a trip to the United States for talks with President Bush by one day until Saturday. A White House spokesman condemned the suicide bombing and sharply criticized Arafat.

Witnesses said Israeli forces were not in central Ramallah but only around Arafat's compound outside the city center.

Israeli warplanes roared overhead initially, followed by helicopter gunships but they wheeled away after a short period.

FRESH DIPLOMACY SUFFERS

The army swooped a little more than a month after ending the 34-day siege of Arafat's compound when he agreed to transfer militants inside who were wanted by Israel to a jail under US and British monitoring in the West Bank town of Jericho.

At least 1,382 Palestinians and 502 Israelis have been killed in violence in a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip launched after talks on a Palestinian state deadlocked in 2000.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said Arafat had told him by telephone from the compound that it had suffered heavy damage from the Israeli barrage.

"This attack is another indication of the comprehensive Israeli war against the Palestinian Authority," he said.

"All political moves (toward reviving peace talks) will be useless unless the United Nations dispatches a protection force to the Palestinian territories," Abed Rabbo told Reuters.

The Israeli government blamed the car bombing, which shredded a bus packed with soldiers and civilians at the Megiddo highway junction in northern Israel, on what it called Arafat's unwillingness to rein in Palestinian militants.

The Palestinian Authority denied responsibility and condemned the attack. Security sources said a hunt was under way for militant suspects including members of Islamic Jihad and the al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Arafat's Fatah faction.

Israel says Arafat has failed to honor previous promises to lock up militants.

Police said the bombing death toll in Megiddo -- Hebrew name for the biblical Armageddon -- was 16 but Israeli media said later it had risen to 17. About 40 people were wounded.

The attack brought condemnation from President Bush, whose spokesman called Arafat "ineffective" and a leader who could not be trusted.

It followed two days of talks between US CIA Director George Tenet and Palestinian and Israeli leaders intended to initiate democratic reforms to the Palestinian Authority aimed at reining in violence and fostering fresh peace talks.
"This attack underscores the fact that these terrorists are the worst enemies, not only of the people of Israel who seek peace, but also of the Palestinian people and their hopes for a better life," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer added.

Signaling an effort in Washington to reach out to alternative Palestinian leaders, Fleischer also said: "In the president's eyes, Yasser Arafat has never played a role of someone who can be trusted and who is effective."

US officials dampened expectations of major results from weekend talks that Bush plans with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Sharon objects to a proposal from Mubarak that a Palestinian state to be declared before talks on final borders.

The militant group Islamic Jihad said it hit the bus at Megiddo and a Palestinian security official pledged "fierce" action to stop groups like it mounting attacks in Israel, which provoked destructive incursions by the Israeli army.

The Megiddo bombing, on the 35th anniversary of the start of the 1967 Middle East war, claimed the highest number of Israeli deaths of any attack since the end early last month of a six-week Israeli military offensive through the West Bank following earlier suicide bombings.

After a two-week lull, bombings resumed and Israeli forces now carry out almost daily raids into Palestinian cities and towns, detaining suspected militants.

Israel has made any resumption of peace negotiations with the Palestinians conditional on an end to suicide attacks and on wide-ranging reforms within Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

- REUTERS

Feature: Middle East

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