Steve Quayle News Alerts

June 6, 2002

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli troops blasted a hole in Yasser Arafat's bedroom wall early Thursday morning and leveled three buildings in the compound that houses his headquarters in a swift retaliation for an Islamic Jihad homicide bombing that killed 17 people the day before.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack, but the Israeli military said in a statement that it holds Arafat's government "directly responsible for terrorism that originates in its territory."

After about six hours, the soldiers withdrew from the compound and the city of Ramallah, leaving three Palestinian Authority buildings in ruins.

Later Thursday, tanks rolled into the Ramallah suburb of Beituniya and surrounded a large apartment complex, where troops arrested six men, including a suspected member of the extremist Islamic group Hamas.

In a West Bank shooting Thursday, an Israeli motorist was killed, a hospital official said. The shooting took place near the Jewish settlement of Shilo, near the city of Nablus.

In Ramallah, Arafat pointed to his dust-covered bed, about five feet from where a shell or rocket had punched a hole in the wall, and suggested Israel had been trying to kill him.

"I was supposed to sleep here last night but I had some work downstairs," he said. "Of course [the Israelis] knew where I was. Everybody knows this is my bedroom."

An Israeli army spokesman scoffed at the implication.

"If there had been any intention of harming Arafat, it would not have been a problem," Capt. Jacob Dallal said.

The bulldozer-and-tank assault came just a month after troops withdrew from the compound following a 34-day siege that confined Arafat to several rooms.

Though Israel's stated goal at the time was to isolate Arafat and remove him from contacts with the outside world, the virtual house arrest turned him into a heroic figure in the eyes of Palestinians and much of the Arab world.

There was speculation that another major Palestinian terror attack would prompt Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to expel Arafat.

Sharon adviser Raanan Gissin said, however, Arafat's ouster was not contemplated for now.

"His expulsion would not solve the problem. The security services do not recommend this as the most effective solution. We will operate in accordance with the recommendation of the security services," he said.

The Palestinian leader shrugged off such a scenario Thursday.

"Expel me?" he said. "I will die here."

The Israeli daily Maariv wrote in an editorial Thursday that "the blood-boiling spectacle of the people who were burned to death in a bus ... needs to bring us very close to a decision to rid the region of Arafat's presence."

However, other prominent Israelis warn that expelling Arafat might lead to chaos and more violence.

In Wednesday's attack, an 18-year-old member of Islamic Jihad drove a car packed with 42 pounds of explosives alongside a moving bus and detonated the load, igniting a huge fireball and flipping the bus over twice.

Many passengers were trapped in the burning vehicles, while others were hurled onto the asphalt. Among the dead were 13 soldiers in their late teens and early 20s.

"Forever 20," read the headline in the Yediot Ahronot daily Thursday, alongside the pictures of the victims.

Islamic Jihad said the bomber, Hamza Samudi from the West Bank town of Jenin, had learned to drive just four days before the attack, with his handlers giving him a few quick pointers on where to find the brake, the clutch and how to shift gears.

On the day before the attack, Samudi had taken his elderly father for a drive in the stolen car given to him by Islamic Jihad, neighbors said.

Following the attack — the deadliest since Israel wrapped up its six-week military offensive against Palestinian militias last month — Sharon delayed by two days his departure for Washington where he is to meet with President Bush at the White House on Monday.

A senior U.S. official said Israel did not inform the United States before the incursion into Ramallah, and Washington did not give prior approval.

Earlier this week, visiting CIA chief George Tenet warned Arafat that if he did not stop suicide bombings, he would stand alone against Israeli reprisals, a suggestion that the United States would not try to rein in Sharon.

Arafat adviser Nabil Abu Rdeneh accused the United States of turning a blind eye to what he called Israeli aggression.

"It [the United States] has from the start given Israel a green light to attack our people," he said.

Israeli tanks entered Arafat's compound at about 2 a.m. Thursday. The military said its forces took control of Arafat's headquarters "in the wake of a wave of Palestinian terrorism sweeping the state of Israel," including the attack on the bus.

Troops blew up three buildings, including the Palestinian intelligence headquarters, reducing them to piles of rubble.

The army said that during the operation, Palestinian security forces opened fire at Israeli soldiers who returned fire. Palestinian security officials insisted they did not shoot at the Israelis. A Palestinian security guard was killed.

It was not immediately clear what caused the damage to Arafat's three-story office building. In addition to the direct hit on Arafat's bathroom, reporters also saw a hole apparently made by a tank shell in an outer wall on the third floor.

Other damage apparently was caused by the force of the nearby explosions; the intelligence headquarters that was blown up shared a wall with Arafat's office.

In several rooms in the office building, wires and debris dangled from the ceiling, windows were shot out and pictures were shattered.

"It was terrible," said Palestinian security guard Ahmed Ali, 24. "We spent the night witnessing them destroying the buildings around us, the sound of explosions, tanks rolling around us."

Two hours after the Israeli soldiers left Thursday, Arafat emerged from his office building, flashing a V-for-victory sign as he was greeted by about 100 civilians at the entrance to the building.

"This will only increase the steadfastness of our people," Arafat said, referring to the Israeli attack.

Elsewhere in the West Bank on Thursday, Israeli forces left the city of Nablus, which they entered a week ago to carry out a series of searches for Palestinian militants and caches of explosives and weapons.

At the beginning of a large-scale invasion of the West Bank on March 29, following an earlier string of Palestinian suicide bombings, Israeli tanks smashed into the Ramallah compound and surrounded Arafat's office, trapping the Palestinian leader until May 1.

Wednesday's bus attack might complicate U.S. efforts to start a new Mideast peace initiative. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that "this attack underscores the fact that these terrorists are the worst enemies of not only the people of Israel who seek peace but also the Palestinian people."

The Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, Abdullah Shami, called the attack "part of our resistance." The group's overall leader, Ramadan Shalah said in Damascus, Syria that it was meant to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the 1967 war, in which Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, claimed by the Palestinians.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,54599,00.html