Posted on 06/24/2002 4:07:45 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Filed at 5:07 a.m. ET
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed six Palestinians in a helicopter missile strike on a car carrying Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip Monday and surrounded Yasser Arafat in his headquarters in the West Bank.
Helicopter gunships fired at a car on the outskirts of southern Gaza's Rafah refugee camp, leaving the vehicle a burning wreck and scattering body parts around it. Two senior Hamas activists wanted by Israel were among the dead.
The air strike continued a spasm of violence that 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 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,'' Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas official, told Reuters. ``The answer...will be the continuation of resistance and jihad (holy war) by all means available.''
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.
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. It 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 placed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, wheelchair-bound founder and spiritual leader of the Islamic Hamas movement, under house arrest in Gaza City early Monday, a Palestinian security official said.
But with Hamas enjoying strong grass-roots support, it was unclear how effective the measures would be. Palestinian police kept their distance from Yassin's house, which was ringed by dozens of armed Hamas members Monday, witnesses said.
One man was shot and wounded when police broke up a march by dozens of Hamas supporters near Yassin's house, Hamas members and hospital officials said.
Police said the Hamas supporters opened fire, but the protesters said the police has started the shooting.
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 were also killed along with the driver. A passenger in nearby vehicle also died, doctors said.
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 Monday afternoon, but the president had not made a final decision as of late Sunday. He planned to leave Tuesday for the Group of Eight 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 the statehood they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
A declaration of U.S. support for an interim Palestinian state while details of a final peace agreement are negotiated has been put forward as one option Bush might pursue.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has flatly opposed the idea, and Arafat and his aides have given it a cool reception.
At least 1,422 Palestinians and 548 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000.
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