Steve Quayle News Alerts

June 24, 2002
By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in a helicopter missile strike on a car carrying Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip on Monday and surrounded Yasser Arafat in his headquarters in the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the attack -- which killed four Hamas members, including two senior activists, near the Rafah refugee camp -- was just the start of "massive activities" planned against the radical Muslim group in Gaza.

The air strike continued a spasm of violence which has complicated plans by President Bush to deliver a speech expected to outline a path to a Palestinian state. U.S. officials said he could make the speech later on Monday.

Israeli security sources confirmed the Gaza attack was part of Israel's policy -- condemned internationally -- of killing militants it blames for suicide bombings and shooting ambushes during a 21-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation.

"The Israeli assassins must be punished to deter them from repeating such an ugly crime," senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said after the blast left the militants' car a burning wreck and scattered body parts around it.

About 20,000 mourners, some firing guns in the air, marched in funerals for the men in Rafat in the southern Gaza Strip.

Shortly before the attack, Israel sent columns of tanks into Ramallah and again surrounded Arafat's presidential headquarters, already battered in fighting during previous army incursions into the city just north of Jerusalem.

Before dawn, Israeli forces bulldozed rubble to seal off streets leading to the compound. Sharon has made no secret of his desire to isolate Arafat despite international opposition.

Ramallah is the sixth West Bank city taken over in the past week by Israel, which has vowed to reoccupy Palestinian-ruled areas and hold them until Palestinian attacks end.

Israel announced the policy after two Palestinian suicide bombings in Jerusalem last week killed 26 Israelis and prompted Bush to delay his Middle East policy address. Israel has called up about 2,000 reservists to reinforce its offensive.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of seeking to reoccupy the entire West Bank and destroy Arafat's Palestinian Authority.

HAMAS FOUNDER UNDER HOUSE ARREST

Arafat is facing demands from Israel and the United States to rein in militants and overhaul the Palestinian Authority.

In an apparent response to that pressure, Arafat declared Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, 66, wheelchair-bound founder and spiritual leader of the Islamic Hamas movement, under house arrest in Gaza City, a Palestinian security official said.

But with Hamas enjoying strong grass-roots support, Palestinian police kept their distance from Yassin's house, which was ringed by dozens of armed, masked Hamas members.

One man was wounded when police broke up a march by dozens of Hamas supporters near Yassin's house. Police said Hamas supporters opened fire. Protesters said police shot first.

As he received visitors, Yassin said he had no official notice of his confinement. "If they come to inform me of their decision. I will tell them I reject it," he told Reuters.

The Palestinian Authority last imposed house arrest on Yassin in December, but Israeli officials dismissed it as a ploy and restrictions on his movements were gradually lifted.

Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction and its militants have claimed responsibility for suicide attacks which have killed scores of Israelis.

The two senior militants killed in Monday's Gaza strike were identified by Hamas as Yassir Rezik and Amar Quffa.

Israeli security sources said Rezik, Hamas's military leader in Rafah, was involved in "a long list of terrorist attacks" and had been planning to send suicide bombers into Israel.

Two of Rezik's brothers, also Hamas members, died along with the driver. A passenger in a nearby vehicle was also killed.

"We are preparing massive activities against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and one could see the start of that this morning," Sharon told a parliamentary committee. But he did not elaborate.

At least 1,422 Palestinians and 548 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000.

BUSH'S SPEECH

With pressure rising in the United States and abroad for Bush to lay out his Middle East policy, his window for doing so before a summit of major nations this week was narrowing.

U.S. officials said aides proposed that Bush deliver his address on Monday afternoon, but the president had not made a final decision as of late Sunday. He planned to leave on Tuesday for the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Canada, where leaders are seen as eager for a U.S. policy declaration.

Bush faces a debate within his administration over what Palestinians should be required to do to win statehood. A declaration of U.S. support for an interim state while details of a final peace agreement are negotiated has been put forward as one option Bush might pursue.

Sharon has flatly opposed the idea, and Arafat and his aides have given it a cool reception.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=1125720