Israeli planes strike Gaza City

12/07/2001

By Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli warplanes bombed a police post in Gaza early Friday, keeping pressure on Yasser Arafat to arrest suspected terrorists. The attack came hours after 1,500 Hamas supporters battled Palestinian riot police to protest Arafat's crackdown.

At Shifa Hospital, doctors were treating at least 20 people injured in the strike, including 18 police and two civilians — a man and his son on their way to a morning prayers. Medical workers said the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.

The Israeli army said in a statement that the attack targeted the ``Palestinian security apparatus that supports and aids terrorist operations. The army will continue its operations in order to defend the safety of Israeli citizens and soldiers.''

Two buildings were completely destroyed — one a police dormitory, the other office space, including that of a women's police division.

``This new Israeli crime came while the Palestinian police are exerting maximum efforts to safeguard security,'' a police statement said.

Thursday's protest was a violent backlash to an intensified roundup of Islamic militants. It came as a U.S. envoy and the Egyptian foreign minister shuttled between Israel and the Palestinian territories, trying to stop more than a year of Palestinian-Israeli clashes and bring about a truce.

Arafat faces pressure from the United States and continued strikes by Israel if he fails to stop militants who have carried out a wave of deadly attacks against Israelis.

Though Arafat said his forces have arrested 180 militants, Israeli officials said earlier that the leaders of violent groups remain at large.

``Very few of the people arrested were important,'' Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio.

The United States was also skeptical of Arafat's sweeps.

``The president remains deeply concerned that Palestinian jails ... are still built with bars in front with revolving doors at the back,'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

Palestinians insisted their efforts were sincere and for their own good.

``The Americans did not impose anything on us,'' said West Bank security chief Jibril Rajoub. ``We know exactly what our interests are and what our duty is.''

Arafat said Thursday that the United States had given him a list of 33 militants, and most of them had been arrested. He said his police were looking for the others.

The United States has been trying to cool the Mideast conflict to keep it from interfering with its operation in Afghanistan. Since the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, Arafat has been trying to distance himself from Islamic militants.

Arafat met Thursday with U.S. peace envoy Anthony Zinni and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher. Both diplomats also saw Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

Violence lent urgency to the talks. Two Palestinian suicide bombing attacks killed 25 in Israel last weekend, and Israeli retaliatory attacks on Monday and Tuesday targeted Arafat's headquarters and security offices, killing two people and injuring more than 100.

``We know there is a warning of some more suicide bombers trying to enter Israel,'' Peres said after meeting with Maher. Peres said Israel was giving Arafat time to move against the militants, but stressed the urgency of the situation, saying: ``Another bomb will really make the situation impossible.''

Maher's visit was a sign of the seriousness of the crisis.

Egypt has shunned high-profile ties with Israel since Sharon became prime minister in March, and Egypt withdrew its ambassador from Israel last year because of the violence.

``I cannot say we see eye-to-eye because there are still points of difference,'' Maher said after meeting with Peres. Egypt, like the Palestinians, has consistently blamed Israel for more than a year of violence.

The weekend suicide bomb attacks and the retaliatory airstrikes spurred Arafat into action against the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups, moves he had avoided for fear of setting off a Palestinian civil war.

In the West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian police posted officers outside two mosques late Wednesday, checking the identity cards of worshippers against a list of wanted people. No arrests were made, but police said they found several pounds of explosives in the Nablus hide-out of a Hamas militant.

Yassin was placed under house arrest Wednesday, sparking angry resistance from Hamas supporters. More than 1,500 protesters clashed Thursday with Palestinian police, who set up checkpoints around his Gaza City home.

Both sides occasionally fired automatic weapons in the air, and there was a brief exchange of fire in which a Hamas supporter, Mohammed Silmi, 21, was killed.

In the West Bank towns of Qalqilya, Tulkarem, Nablus and Jenin, Palestinian police entered dozens of suspected Hamas activists' homes overnight, only to find they had fled. The night ended with just one arrest, Nablus security officials said.

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader who has gone underground, posted a message to wanted men on a Hamas Web site, saying they should not turn themselves in.

In another incident, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian after mortar shells landed on Jewish settlements in Gaza. The Israeli military said the Palestinian was involved in firing the mortars, but Palestinians said the killing was unprovoked.