By Ibrahim Barzak
Associated Press
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli helicopter gunships struck a security compound near the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat with missiles today, destroying two of his helicopters, in retaliation for weekend suicide bombings by Islamic militants.
The strike also hit an underground fuel depot, sparking a fire that sent a pall of thick smoke over the city. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon held emergency meetings to decide the scope of the response to the anti-Israeli attacks, which killed 26 people.
Brig. Gen. Ron Kitrey, the Israeli military spokesman, said the assault hit two helicopters that Arafat “doesn’t use, but they were symbols of his mobility and freedom.”
Arafat, who travels between the West Bank and Gaza Strip by helicopter, was in the West Bank city of Ramallah at the time of the attack.
The strike by at least 10 missiles destroyed two of Arafat’s Russian-made helicopters, one in the landing pad and another in a hangar. Security officials at the scene said the fuel depot and some nearby buildings were also hit. Ambulances raced through the city, sirens blaring. Shifa hospital in Gaza reported it received 10 injured people.
Eight helicopters hovered overhead for about an hour, the noise of exploding missiles and the exchanges of submachine gunfire mixing with mosque calls to the traditional prayer that marks the end of the daylong fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The strike came despite the Palestinians’ biggest sweep in five years against Hamas – the militant group that claimed responsibility for the weekend attacks – and Islamic Jihad. Palestinian officers arrested security forces have arrested some 110 Hamas and Jihad activists since Sunday.
Aryeh Mekel, an Israeli government spokesman, said the attack attack was to send “a message to Arafat that the current situation can’t continue and we expect him to act against the terror.”
But Palestinian Cabinet member Hisham Abdel Razek said the Israeli strike only undermined Arafat’s ability to crack down.
“This means Israel sees the (Palestinian Authority) as a target to be attacked,” he told Israel’s Channel 2 TV. “It wasn’t (Arafat’s) helicopters that carried out the bombings” over the weekend.
Sharon, who returned this morning after cutting short a U.S. visit, was to address the nation later in the day. It was not yet known whether this was only the start to Israel’s response. Israel has struck near Arafat’s headquarters several times in the past as a warning following flare-ups during the past 14 months of violence.
Israeli hard-liners were pressing for a larger campaign against the Palestinian Authority, with some calling for Arafat to be expelled from the Palestinian territories, to which he returned in 1994.
Sharon’s Cabinet, which was expected to approve harsh retaliation, but stop short of crushing Arafat’s Palestinian Authority.
In Washington, there was no indication that President Bush had sought to persuade Sharon to hold back when they met Sunday.
Arafat “must do everything in his power to find those who murdered innocent Israelis and bring them to justice,” Bush said.
Palestinian suicide bombers struck two cities within 12 hours over the weekend: Two bombers killed 10 people and injured 150 in a crowded pedestrian mall in Jerusalem late Saturday, then another bomber in a public bus in Haifa killed 15 people Sunday. A shooting Sunday killed an Israeli in Gaza. Three suicide bombers were killed in the Jerusalem and Haifa attacks.
In the West Bank, Israeli troops enforced a tight blockade of Palestinian towns, barring residents from entering and leaving. At a checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets to keep back about 150 Palestinians trying to get through the barrier, paramedics said.
A Palestinian was killed in a firefight with Israeli troops near the West Bank town of Tulkarem late Sunday, and a Palestinian farmer was shot dead early today as he walked toward his field. The Israeli military said troops shot a Palestinian man they suspected was trying to plant a bomb.
In Israel, police were on highest alert for terror attacks, and thousands of officers patrolled malls and markets.
“We are at war,” said a banner headline in the Yediot Ahronot daily, accompanied by two rows of photos of the bombing victims, including 10 teen-agers killed in Jerusalem.
“Israel must embark on an offensive that will obliterate Palestinian terror … and Arafat must pay a personal price,” the Maariv daily wrote in a front-page editorial.
In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian security officials said 110 Hamas and Jihad members had been arrested, including two Hamas leaders in Gaza, Ismail Hanieh and Ismail Abu Shanab.
The spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, was placed under house arrest and ordered not to speak to reporters, said the security officials. But Yassin’s family said the cleric was not aware of any restrictions on his movement.
But Israeli officials were dismissive of the sweep. A senior Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said those rounded up since Sunday include “very few, if any” of the 108 militants Israel has been demanding Arafat arrest for alleged involvement in bombings and shootings.
The past 14 months of fighting have killed more than 230 on the Israeli side and more than 780 people on the Palestinian side.
Palestinian officials have said they could not be expected to take harsh action against their own people when Israel was killing dozens of suspected militants in targeted attacks and imposing heavy security closures.
However, Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath said the weekend attacks “have pushed us into a corner” and forced a crackdown.
Arafat declared a state of emergency in the Palestinian areas and gave orders to confiscate illegal weapons. Those speaking out against cease-fire efforts would be muzzled, a Palestinian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In the West Bank town of Nablus, about 1,000 activists marched to commemorate one of the Haifa bombers, despite a police ban.
Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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