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Palestinan prisoners are guarded during the Israeli operation in the West Bank City of Ramallah. Israeli soldiers encircling Yasser Arafat's headquarters have traded fire with the Palestinian President's defenders as Israel defied a United Nations call for it to lift the siege.
Photo: REUTERS |
The Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, has said in a brief televised address that his country "is at war" and would strike relentlessly at Palestinian militants. The comments were made a day after the UN passed a resolution unopposed, calling on Israel to immediately withdraw from Palestinian cities.
In this evening’s broadcast, which was made on Israeli television, Sharon said Yasser Arafat was "the enemy of Israel and the free world in general," and was directing a campaign of terrorism against the Jewish state. He said Arafat is a danger to stability in the Middle East.
Sharon said Israel had tried to reach a cease-fire, but that he had now concluded it was possible only after "terror is eradicated."
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The comments were made in a day of further suicide bomb attacks and a resumption of Israel's attack on the Palestinian leader's compound in Ramallah.
Israeli troops surrounding Yasser Arafat's three-story office building where the Palestinian leader is a virtual prisoner exchanged fire with his guards, injuring several.
At least fourteen people were killed in a suicide attack claimed by Hamas on a restaurant in Haifa and later in the day, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Jewish settlement of Efrat in the West Bank, killing himself and wounding four others.
Israel has declared Ramallah a closed security zone, preventing movement in or out of the Palestinian city.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Israel has no intention of harming Arafat. "We don't want to turn it into a world war, into a regional war. We don't want to turn the entire world against us," Peres said.
However, the Israeli army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ron Kitrey, acknowledged that Arafat was at risk, even if he was not a target. "We must remember that he (Arafat) is not sitting in a monastery. He is surrounded by armed people, including his guards," he told Israel Radio.
Israeli troops exchanged fire today with guards at Yasser Arafat's office, and two Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up, killing at least 12 people and wounding more than 40 in separate attacks in an Israeli port city and a Jewish West Bank settlement.
The afternoon blasts brought to five the number of suicide bombing in five days. The blast in Haifa ripped open a large hole in the roof of the Arab-owned Matza restaurant, outside the Grand Canyon shopping mall. The explosion shattered tables, blew out windows and covered the floor with twisted piles of metal.
The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed a suicide bomb attack in Haifa to avenge Israel's incursion into Ramallah. The assailant was identified as Shadi Tubasi, 22, a resident of the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin.
Israel's Government Press Office said at least 12 people were killed and 40 wounded in the afternoon blast in the mixed Arab-Jewish city while unofficial police reports said 14 people were killed.
Later in the day, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Jewish settlement of Efrat in the West Bank, killing himself and wounding four people.
David Baker, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said that Israel will have to break "this chain of terror" and will use whatever means necessary "to achieve this at the earliest opportunity."
Israel has called up 20,000 reserves soldiers in the largest mobilization in a decade. The call-up was expected to cost the Israeli economy more than $100 million a month, the Haaretz daily newspaper said.
In Israel, there were first signs of unease about the military operation.
Peres, a member of the moderate Labor Party, said the military plans presented to the Cabinet last week were not detailed enough to allow ministers to make an informed decision. Peres and another Labor Party minister abstained in the crucial vote.
"I want to know exactly what is the scope, how far we're going, for how long, before I raise my hand," Peres said.
Some newspaper commentators said the military campaign was mainly driven by Sharon's overwhelming need to settle a personal score with Arafat, who in 1982 was besieged by Sharon's forces in Beirut, but was able to leave Lebanon with thousands of fighters.