http://www.boston.com/dailynews/347/world/Israel_cuts_contacts_with_Araf:.shtml

Israel cuts contacts with Arafat and launches offensive after renewed violence kills 17

By Dan Perry, Associated Press, 12/13/2001 01:02

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) Israel severed all contact with Yasser Arafat early Thursday, launching retaliatory air strikes on his West Bank headquarters and sending troops to surround Palestinian towns after militants killed 10 more Israelis in a bus ambush.

The Palestinian violence and Israeli retaliation could wreck U.S. efforts to arrange a truce.

The Security Cabinet ruled out talks with Arafat hours after Arafat bowed to long-standing Israeli demands and ordered the offices of the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups closed, but did not outlaw them.

The Cabinet statement said Arafat was ''directly responsible'' for the attacks ''and therefore is no longer relevant to Israel, and Israel will no longer have any connection with him.''

Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit said Israel had reached ''the moment of truth'' in its battle against terrorism. ''We have been talking with the Palestinians at all levels for two years,'' Sheetrit said. ''Now it is time for Israel to defend itself.''

Israeli helicopters targeted Arafat's Ramallah headquarters early Thursday shortly after the Palestinian leader had left, Palestinian security officials said.

At a news conference with Sheetrit after the Cabinet meeting, Brig. Gen. Dan Harel, Israel's chief of military operations, said Arafat himself was not a target. The Cabinet said Israeli forces would be deployed around Palestinian towns to make arrests and confiscate weapons.

U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni was trying to establish two days of calm to rebuild trust. He has been in the region two weeks trying to arrange a truce to end more than 14 months of Palestinian-Israeli violence.

Sheetrit said there would be no more contact with Arafat or his Palestinian Authority and that meetings of security commanders, sponsored by Zinni, would cease.

Since Nov. 26, when Zinni arrived, 50 Palestinians and 44 Israelis have been killed in violence. The Palestinian toll includes 18 armed attackers and 10 suicide bombers.

Hamas said it was responsible for the bus attack just after nightfall Wednesday, which also injured 30. The crowded vehicle was ambushed as it climbed a winding road near the Jewish settlement of Emmanuel in the West Bank, 25 miles north of Jerusalem.

Wednesday's unrelenting violence started shortly after midnight with an Israeli helicopter strike that killed four Palestinian militiamen in response to mortar fire on Jewish settlements. Israeli warplanes struck back after the bus bombing, and Arafat ordered the offices of Hamas and Islamic Jihad closed.

Palestinian militants have ignored Arafat's calls for a cease-fire. Israel reserved the right to strike back at the Palestinian authority for attacks by the militants and dismissed as a sham Arafat's recent arrest of 180 militants.

Two bombs planted on the roadside exploded, immediately killing four bus passengers, said the regional police commander, Shahar Ayalon. One or more gunmen then opened fire from surrounding hills.

Israelis troops fired back, killing one gunman and launching a search for others. Ayalon said the gunman had explosives strapped to his body. Palestinian security officials identified him as Mohammed Reihan, 25, a Hamas activist, whose brother was recently killed by Israeli troops.

The explosion blew out the windows of the bus, which started its journey near Tel Aviv. A body covered by a blanket lay by the side of the road. Windshields were shattered in nearby cars. One was driven into a ditch.

At virtually the same moment but well to the south in the Gaza Strip, two suicide bombers blew themselves up near the Gush Katif settlement bloc, wounding several people, the army said. The assailants jumped on a car leaving the settlement and detonated the explosives, TV reports said. The passengers in the car escaped with minor injuries. The suicide bombers died.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Gaza attack.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack but braced for an Israeli strike which came within hours.

Arafat's organization also said in a statement: ''The Palestinian leadership has decided to close all offices, centers and organizations and anything connected with Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian territories.''

Israeli F-16s bombed a Palestinian security compound at least three times, witnesses said. As four fighter planes buzzed overhead, there was a large explosion at the compound and white smoke filled the air. Two more blasts followed moments later. Ten people were hurt, none seriously, doctors said. A woman who was not wounded died of shock, they said.

Later, Palestinian security officials said, Israeli missiles struck the radar unit at Gaza Airport, where Israeli bulldozers destroyed the runway last week after previous Palestinian attacks.

In Nablus, another F-16 shelled a helicopter pad in a compound belonging to Force 17, an elite Palestinian security unit. An Israeli army spokesman said attacks had also targeted a naval police headquarters in Sudaniyeh, in the northern Gaza Strip.

No injuries were immediately reported in the strikes.

Electricity in Gaza City had been cut off earlier to darken the area in anticipation of the retaliation. Electricity was also cut in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Arafat and a few bodyguards stayed bunkered at his headquarters there.

Israeli officials have dismissed Arafat's efforts to round up militants as insufficient.

The White House had said Wednesday's attacks would not derail Zinni's mission. ''The latest violence underscores the need for Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to take every step possible to reduce the violence and bring an end to the terrorism that is plaguing the region,'' said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

The Palestinian Authority said it bore no responsibility for the attacks on Israelis.

''The Palestinian leadership reiterates that it is working intensively and continuously to restore quiet and security despite the Israeli escalation, the raids and the assassinations (of militants) and the closure imposed on all the Palestinian cities and villages,'' it said in a statement.

This latest round of violence began when Palestinians fired four mortar shells at Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip late Tuesday. The mortar shells caused no damage or injuries.

In retaliation, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza late Tuesday and early Wednesday, killing four Palestinian militiamen and wounding 20.

The latest cycle of violence began nearly 15 months ago. Since then, 818 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 242 on the Israeli side.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2001

Answers

Oh, sure, now that he's being ignored...

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/347/world/Truce_effort_overwhelmed_by_ vi:.shtml

Truce effort overwhelmed by violence, Israel cuts contact with Arafat

By Ibrahim Barzak, Associated Press, 12/13/2001 10:49

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) Israel severed all contact with Yasser Arafat on Thursday, launching airstrikes and sending troops to Palestinian towns after a bus ambush that killed 10 Israelis.

Arafat's spokesman called the moves ''an official declaration of war'' wording used repeatedly in the past. Israel's Cabinet made no such declaration of war, and Israeli officials stressed that Arafat was not a target.

Another top Palestinian official said Israeli strikes had rendered the Palestinian Authority unable to fulfill its commitment to crack down on terror.

The strikes Thursday killed one man in the West Bank town of Ramallah, and a woman died of a heart attack when Israeli warplanes bombed targets in Gaza, Palestinian officials said. A 15-year-old Palestinian boy was fatally shot in a scuffle with soldiers in the Gaza Strip, witnesses said.

Israeli planes also struck a building in Arafat's headquarters compound in Ramallah. Arafat was in a building nearby but was not harmed, Palestinian security officials said. Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, chief of Israeli military operations, said the Palestinian leader was not a target.

Israel also took over the home of one of Arafat's closest lieutenants.

The violence and harsh words appeared to mark a new crisis point in the bitter 14-month old conflict and threatened to wreck U.S. efforts to arrange a truce.

Israel's Security Cabinet ruled out talks with Arafat hours after the Palestinian leader bowed to long-standing Israeli demands and ordered all offices of the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups closed. But he did not outlaw the groups, as Israel has also demanded.

The Cabinet statement said Arafat was ''directly responsible'' for the bus ambush ''and therefore is no longer relevant to Israel, and Israel will no longer have any connection with him.'' Israel Army Radio said low-level talks between the two sides continued.

Hours later, after a night of strikes in Gaza and the West Bank, the Palestinians backed away from the pledge to shut Hamas and Islamic Jihad offices and from Arafat's longstanding promise to crack down on militants.

''It's impossible for the Palestinian leadership to implement its commitment under the shadow of this comprehensive war,'' said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. ''We are committed to all that we promised but we can't implement it.''

He said he was referring to Arafat's broad promise to crack down on terrorists and the Wednesday pledge to shut the Hamas and Islamic Jihad offices. By early Thursday, no offices had been closed.

Arab League Secretary-General General Amr Moussa said the Israeli decision to cut ties with Arafat was tantamount to ''a unilateral'' abandonment of the peace process. He called on the United States to act to save the process.

The ominous moves from both sides followed a day of violence and retaliation Wednesday.

Ten Israelis were killed and about 30 wounded when Palestinians set off a bomb and opened fire on a bus and several cars in the West Bank. At the same time, two Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up next to Israeli cars in Gaza.

U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni, in the region to negotiate an end to nearly 15 months of Palestinian-Israeli violence, said Arafat and his administration ''must act against these groups and they must act now.''

In retaliation, Israeli planes and helicopters struck targets around Gaza and the West Bank late Wednesday and early Thursday. Bombs from Israeli warplanes knocked down structure after structure in Gaza's police headquarters, setting a huge fire.

A Palestinian identified as Ahmed Muhammed al-Daneasy, 26, was killed in the Ramallah attack, security officials said. In Gaza, Palestinian Health Ministry officials said a woman named Hayat al-Haitham, 40, died of a heart attack caused by shock. Forty people were hurt in Gaza, officials added.

Later, Israeli soldiers fatally shot Ahmed al-Masry, 15, witnesses said, during a scuffle following the funeral of two suicide bombers who attacked a car in the Gaza Strip Wednesday.

Israeli troops also entered Ramallah at three points. Soldiers in six tanks took over the home of a top Palestinian official, Marwan Barghouti, in the northern part of the city, cutting off the phones, witnesses said.

The army did not comment, and it was not clear if the soldiers were trying to capture Barghouti, the leader of the Tanzim militia of Arafat's Fatah part. Barghouti was nearby but escaped, while his wife, children and other relatives remained inside.

Israel accuses Tanzim of involvement in several attacks on civilians. Any Israeli attack on Barghouti personally would stoke tensions considerably.

At midmorning, Israeli troops were just several hundred yards away from Arafat's Ramallah office.

Israeli missiles hit the main transmitter of the Palestinian radio station in Ramallah, knocking it off the air, the military said. Bulldozers flattened the building later. Soldiers also detonated explosives that toppled a 90-foot radio and television tower nearby.

Voice of Palestine radio resumed broadcasting on a different wavelength hours after the attack.

Brig. Gen. Ron Kitrey said Israeli troops were digging in around Ramallah and other towns. Tanks were stationed at the busy Netzarim junction in the Gaza Strip, closing the area's main north-south artery and forcing residents to travel along a stretch of beach.

Israeli Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit said Israel had reached ''the moment of truth'' in its battle against terrorism. From now on, ''Israel will defend itself'' and not look to Arafat for help, he said.

He said there would be no more contact with Palestinian Authority bodies. Meetings of security commanders arranged by Zinni would cease.

Repeating a phrase Palestinian officials have used at least five times in the past year, Arafat spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh called Israel's military moves ''an official declaration of war against our people. ... This war will lead the region to more instability and destruction.''

Since Nov. 26, when Zinni arrived, 53 Palestinians and 44 Israelis have been killed in violence. The Palestinian toll includes 18 armed attackers and 10 suicide bombers.

The Palestinian leadership rejected Israeli charges that it was responsible for the repeated attacks, saying the Israeli response was undermining its efforts against militant groups.

The leadership denounced the Wednesday attacks and insisted that it is ''working intensively and continuously to restore quiet and security despite the Israeli escalation.''

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2001

Seems to me that Arafat has no control over any of the people who are doing these suicide bombings and other attacks. Having the US trying to get Arafat and Israel to sit and talk is pointless.

Let em blow each other up. Eventually one of them will win, or both will be gone.

I wonder about the nuclear factor. Israel has it, but what about the Palestinians?

-- Anonymous, December 14, 2001