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Israel strikes back
Compiled from Times wires JERUSALEM -- Assaulting the symbols of Yasser Arafat's authority, Israeli warplanes, helicopter gunships, tanks and bulldozers struck in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Monday evening and before dawn today as the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, accused the Palestinian leader of provoking war by pursuing "the path of terrorism." "A war has been forced upon us -- a war of terror," Sharon said in a speech Monday night. The military strikes were prompted by three suicide bombings in Israel over the weekend that killed 25 people. The bombings were claimed by the radical Palestinian group Hamas, which said they were revenge for the killing by Israel on Nov. 23 of the senior Hamas military leader in the West Bank, Mahmoud Abu Hanoud. Sharon stopped short of specifying actions that some government ministers have demanded, such as banishing the Palestinian leader and destroying his governing institutions. But the Israeli Cabinet, after a prolonged session, formally declared that the Palestinian Authority was "an entity supporting terrorism," a decision that a top government spokesman said justified military, political and economic sanctions. In Gaza City on Monday, Israeli helicopters used missiles and machine-gun fire to destroy two of Arafat's three helicopters, stationed near his home. In Jenin, in the West Bank, Israeli planes bombed what the army said was Arafat's headquarters there and a police building. During the raids, Arafat was known to be in Ramallah. The helicopters, used to shuttle Arafat between Gaza and the West Bank, are a source of pride and prestige to the image-conscious Palestinian leader. According to the Chicago Tribune, quoting a senior Israeli official, the attack was aimed at grounding and humiliating Arafat. Then, early this morning, Israeli troops and tanks moved into Palestinian-controlled territory in Ramallah and another West Bank city, Nablus. Soldiers took up positions in Ramallah within 200 yards of Arafat's headquarters, Palestinian witnesses said. The Israeli army confirmed it had made the incursions, which it described as minor, and said it had also closed off seven West Bank cities. Palestinian witnesses also said this morning that two bulldozers had entered Gaza International Airport and begun destroying the runway. The Israeli army declined comment, but a senior Israeli official told the Los Angeles Times that the airport was rendered unusable. Israeli officials said that the strikes were meant more as a political message than a physical threat, in response to the Palestinian bombings. There appeared to be no serious casualties in the Israeli attacks. But, with the pleas of peacemakers in both camps overwhelmed by a roar of violence, both sides were braced for further bloodshed. Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians' chief negotiator, said that Sharon had declared war on the Palestinians -- "full-out, full-scale war." "This is the death road that he took tonight," Erekat said, appealing to President Bush to step in and restrain the Israelis. "He's the only one who can do it now," he said. "We don't want to push, not just Palestinians and Israelis, but the whole region down to a cycle of bloodshed." Arafat told Abu Dhabi Television, "They hit my headquarters, they hit my house -- the bombings are a humiliation to the Palestinian people." While the Bush administration continued to pressure Arafat to act against militants, it appeared to leave the door open to further Israeli military action. Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said after the strike in Gaza, "Obviously, Israel has a right to defend herself, and the President understands that clearly." According to the New York Times, a senior Israeli military official said that the government was intent not on war but on squeezing Arafat, to compel him to act against militants. He said that Israel was trying to force Arafat to choose between arresting Palestinian extremists and losing his international standing as leader of the Palestinians, a loss that the official predicted would quickly cause Arafat's fall from power. On Sunday night, Arafat began his broadest effort in five years against extremists, a sweep in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that Palestinian officials said Monday had so far resulted in the arrests of more than 100 Palestinians. But Arafat's security deputies have arrested only one of about 100 men wanted by Israel, the military official said. Arafat has often promised -- and just as often postponed -- such action, but Israeli officials believe he has now implicitly accepted a severe standard for making arrests. They think that the world will judge him harshly if he does not meet that standard by dismantling two violent Islamist groups: Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The Israeli military official suggested that if Arafat failed to deliver within a few days, the Israeli government would cease to recognize him as the Palestinian leader and urge the United States and other governments to do the same. The military action Monday, he said, demonstrated the kind of force Israel could use to deliver its message. The attack is more symbolic than a real attempt to cause real substantial damage or significant casualties, the official said, according to the New York Times. While more military action may follow, he said, so far the symbolic message is more important than physical damage. Most Israeli officials dismissed the arrests as an exaggerated, short-term attempt by Arafat to salvage his international standing after a string of terrorist attacks in the last week. Sharon repeatedly appealed in his address on Monday night for national unity, perhaps anticipating the strain his next moves will put on his coalition government. He is particularly anxious to retain leaders of the left-leaning Labor Party, and explicitly suggested that criticism should now give way to loyalty. "When you're in a war, everyone has to stand shoulder to shoulder," Sharon said. Ephraim Sneh, the transportation minister and a Labor leader, said Monday the Israeli government should act to protect itself from terrorist attack, but wait before taking more aggressive steps until it can judge Arafat's efforts. "Other measures can be delayed until we know for sure how he intends to act," Sneh said. But Benyamin Elon, the tourism minister and a representative of the right, said that the government should decide that Arafat's Palestinian Authority was "an entity of terrorism, an entity that harbors terror, an enemy." "If this decision is not made, I will do my best to make sure this government does not continue," Elon said, referring to Sharon's government. For Israel, several options are on the table. In addition to Monday's strikes on Arafat's helicopters, Israel could continue to target symbols of Arafat's authority, weakening and de-legitimizing him until he becomes vulnerable to an internal coup, but sparing the Palestinian Authority itself. Many analysts see attempting to remove Arafat as impractical and counterproductive. Shimon Peres, Israel's dovish foreign minister, has warned that the Hamas might be the force to rise to replace Arafat, ending any chance for dialogue. Another option would be to reinvade the Palestinian territories. The army already has tightened its encirclement of the major Palestinian population centers, and while a reoccupation of the West Bank and Gaza would not be difficult from a military standpoint, it would carry a heavy political price. A third possibility is to continue the policy of "targeted killings" against suspected terrorists.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
