Bodyguards hustle Arafat to bunker just before strikes

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Bodyguards whisked Yasser Arafat into an underground bunker at the sight of Israeli attack helicopters approaching his compound Tuesday.

Seconds later when the missiles struck -- a few dozen yards from where he had been sitting -- the Palestinian leader was safely hidden away with advisers and bodyguards in a windowless underground office.

"You should not forget that Arafat is a fighter," said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, secretary general of the Palestinian Cabinet, who stayed in the shelter with him.

"He was very quiet. ... Although he was very surprised, he did not stop giving directions." Rahman said Arafat ordered employees of the compound to evacuate, keeping only his personal bodyguards.

Although Israel says it is not targeting Arafat, its attacks have looked personal, aimed squarely at the symbols of his authority. In addition to hitting the Ramallah compound, Israel has damaged three of Arafat's helicopters and torn up the landing strip at Gaza International Airport.

When he emerged from his shelter, Arafat angrily accused Israel of trying to sabotage his crackdown on Islamic militants, which Israel dismisses as a sham.

The Israelis "don't want me to succeed and for this (Prime Minister Ariel Sharon) is escalating his military activities against our people, against our towns, against our cities, against our establishments," Arafat said. "He doesn't want a peace process to start."

The Palestinian Authority has rounded up some 130 members of the militant Islamic Jihad and Hamas groups in response to weekend suicide bombings and shootings in Israel that killed 26 people. Jibril Rajoub, Palestinian security chief in the West Bank, said arrests would continue, although none have been made since the Israeli airstrikes began Monday.

"How can we take measures in order to control the situation when all our institutions are being targeted?" asked Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. "The security offices and even our jails have been threatened. How can we control the situation?"

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