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'Israel is in a war,' Sharon affirms
Compiled from Times wires JERUSALEM -- In a televised address Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon lamented two more suicide bombers who killed 15 people and wounded 40 on Sunday, and he grimly told his nation what it already knew: "The state of Israel is in a war." The attacks on the port city of Haifa and the West Bank settlement of Efrat signaled another round of escalation in the Middle East's deepening abyss. "Everything we received in return for our efforts (toward peace) was terrorism, terrorism and more terrorism," Sharon said in a speech that heralded an expansion of Israel's three-day-old military offensive against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his forces. Sharon has made similar statements about Arafat in the past, but his terse remarks Sunday appeared aimed to prepare Israel and the world for a major new assault on the West Bank, and possibly for a raid into Arafat's office. Palestinian officials called Sharon's statement a declaration of war. "The Israelis should understand that the Palestinian people will be steadfast and will not surrender, and that they are confident that victory is coming," said Nabil Aburdeineh, an aide to Arafat. A few hours later, dozens of Israeli tanks rolled into the West Bank town of Qalqiliya, governor Mustafa Malki said. Later, tanks entered the the biblical city of Bethlehem, stopping 500 yards from the Church of the Nativity, which marks the traditional birthplace of Jesus. Israeli forces also have massed troops outside neighboring Beit Jala. Still restricted by Israel to a few rooms in his Ramallah headquarters, Arafat pleaded for international assistance and called for continued Palestinian resistance to incursions. "I am one of the martyrs of my people," Arafat told visitors. Dozens of European peace activists, their arms raised and holding white flags, marched past stunned Israeli soldiers surrounding Arafat's office to join the Palestinian leader, saying they would stay with him as human shields. Thirteen were arrested. And still, the death toll mounted and the destruction continued and no one could make it stop. Sunday's bombings rocked the crowded Matza restaurant in Haifa and a paramedic station in Efrat. "Watching people on fire is just horrible," Shimon Sabag, who witnessed the attack in Haifa, told Israel Radio. The blast was so powerful that it blew away the roof and virtually destroyed the building. Militant Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility. Later Sunday, the second blast reverberated through Efrat, injuring four. Under new national police rules in March, public establishments over 500 square meters (1,640 square feet) are required to have security guards. No guard was on duty in Haifa, where the mayor said he was ordering all businesses to post guards at entrances. In the past five days, five suicide bombings have slaughtered nearly 50 people in widely dispersed corners of Israel. If the same violence had struck the United States in the same proportion, 2,350 people would have been killed since Wednesday. "This terrorism is being directed, promoted and initiated by one person, the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat," Sharon said. "Arafat is the enemy of Israel and the enemy of the free world. Yasser Arafat is a danger to the entire region." Sharon said a cease-fire sought by U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni and others would have to wait until Israel "uproots the infrastructure of terrorism directed by the Palestinian Authority." But Sharon stopped short of revealing his plans for Arafat. Israeli officials repeatedly have said that the Palestinian leader would not be harmed, and the United States has urged Israel not to deport him. Arafat denies responsibility for the terror attacks, though he has urged Palestinians to challenge Israel's military responses to them. As Arafat searched for international allies, Israeli troops moved from house to house in Ramallah, searching for suspects. Occasional gunfire echoed through streets virtually devoid of life and in some places littered with the bodies of Palestinians killed in shootouts with Israeli troops. Witnesses and Palestinian officials said Israeli soldiers killed five policeman when they tried to surrender in Ramallah. In a statement, the Israeli military said "wanted men" were in the building and one of them, wearing an explosives belt, opened fire on them. The soldiers chased him and shot him dead, the statement said. Also Sunday: In north Israel, Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon fired on Israeli troops in the second border incident in as many days. The Israeli military said it believed it shot two of them. No Israeli soldiers were injured. Israel declared Ramallah a closed military zone and said foreigners, including journalists, would be removed. The Foreign Press Association in Israel issued a protest. Boston Globe reporter Anthony Shadid was shot in the shoulder Sunday while standing in the doorway of a Ramallah shop, Globe foreign editor James Smith said. -- Information from the Miami Herald, the Associated Press, the New York Times and the Washington Post was used in this report.
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From the Times wire desk Sara Fritz
From the AP |
