Posted on 03/30/2002 7:19:16 AM PST by tomahawk
Israeli Troops Only a Door Away From Arafat Office
March 30, 2002 09:29 AM ET
By Mohammed Assadi
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Only a door separated Israeli soldiers from Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's private office on Saturday after a night of continuous shelling and shooting around his headquarters, aides said.
Arafat spent the night in darkness after Israeli troops besieging his West Bank compound cut off the electricity and telephone and conditions there were steadily worsening, they said.
The aides said Israeli troops have been gradually tightening their siege around Arafat and a handful of close aides inside the 70-year-old al-Moqataa district compound in Ramallah.
Arafat, accustomed to close brushes with death during his long career as a guerrilla leader and statesman, remained defiant and in high spirits.
Tawfiq al-Tirawi, head of Palestinian intelligence in the West Bank, said Israeli special forces moved closer to Arafat's private office when they shot their way through into the operations room of Arafat's bodyguards, injuring two.
Only a door separates Arafat's private office from Israeli soldiers, he told Qatar-based al-Jazeera television by telephone.
"We didn't only spend the night under siege but also under continuous shelling and shooting," said Tirawi, among a handful of aides around Arafat.
"They want us to be cut from the outside world regarding telephone connections and all other communications," he said.
Asked how Arafat spent the night, he said: "Like the rest of our people. There is no electricity and no water, like the rest of our people."
"This situation has been imposed on us and we can only be steadfast."
Palestinian cabinet minister Hassan Asfour said: "They have cut off everything (from Arafat) except his will."
ISRAELI PUSH
Israeli tanks and armored vehicles rumbled into Ramallah early on Friday, saying the operation was in response to a wave of Palestinian suicide attacks against Israel.
Palestinians have been waging an uprising against Israeli occupation over the past 18 months.
Tanks pounded the compound with heavy machinegun fire and armored bulldozers smashed their way inside, allowing special forces to get into the building where Arafat's offices are located.
The U.N. Security Council on Saturday issued a resolution calling on Israel to pull out its troops from Ramallah. But there were no signs that the Jewish state planned to comply.
Tirawi and other Arafat aides said the situation was growing worse by the hour, as the beleaguered staff draw on their small food and water supplies and as cellular telephone batteries grew weaker with no chance of recharging them.
"The situation is terrible. There is no water or electricity," one Arafat aide told Reuters in a brief telephone conversation, cut short by attempts to conserve resources.
One source said Arafat's closest aides have covered walls with slogans to boost morale. "They will not pass," read one slogan written in large Arabic letters on Arafat's door, quoting from one of Arafat's famous speeches during a previous siege in Lebanon.
Palestinians following the situation inside the compound said Arafat and his aides were not likely to be able to hold out for long without electricity, water, food or medical supplies.
At least one of Arafat's bodyguards was killed and more than 20 others injured on Friday when they used personal weapons to try to stop the advancing Israeli soldiers.
Arafat aides said the Palestinian president had personally been helping his private doctor treat wounded bodyguards.
They said an attempt to evacuate the wounded to hospital was cut short after Israeli soldiers arrested some of them from ambulances.
Arafat spent Friday speaking to world leaders and giving defiant interviews over cellular telephones to Arab and international television stations.
"They want me a prisoner, dead, a fugitive. I say (rather) a martyr," Arafat's defiant voice rang in one interview to Jazeera television, rebroadcast on Palestine television broadcasting from Gaza.
Thank you for your answers....I'm glad I asked.
The Holy Bible might give you a few clues.
I don't think that he is ready for that. He sends out others for that purpose. He has more sense, or is he just a coward?
I'm sure you must mean 'militants' or 'freedom fighters'... Reuters isn't biased! Just ask them!
President Yasser Arafat's private office on Saturday after a night of continuous shelling and shooting around his headquarters, aides said.
Meanwhile, IDF sources confirm that Israeli troops were prevented from advancing further by a powerful odor emanating from Arafat's bunker. "I've never seen anything like it," one source said, "Hardened commandos were vomiting and fainting all over the room."
I only responded to Arafat's own reference to his being a martyr. It's easy enough, if he's serious -NOT!
Considering Arafat surrounds himself with guards despite Israel's leadership making it clear they won't kill him, it certainly looks like he's simply a coward. Seems like an honorable martyr would go down fighting, not cowering.
You evidently assume I'm Jewish because I admire their courage and many accomplishments. For your information, I am a descendent of two sets of grandparents who arrived in this country from Alsace-Lorraine and County Cork, Ireland around 1901. I'm a Missouri Synod Lutheran.
Thank you for accusing me of being "humble". I strive to be humble and a person of good will. Perhaps you might try it yourself sometime.
Leni
Leni
That Yassir continues to surprise me, I guess he must have muttered this in 1916.
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