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IDF bulldozers clearing rubble near Yasser Arafat's office in the Ramallah compound Saturday.
(Photo: AP) |
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IDF troops raising an Israeli flag on the roof of a building near Arafat's Ramallah office.
(Photo: AP) |
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Five Palestinians were killed in the West Bank on Saturday and Sunday during Palestinian demonstrations in support of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, who is under siege in his Ramallah headquarters.
Protests resumed in several West Bank towns and in the Gaza Strip on Sunday afternoon, a day after four Palestinians were shot dead and some thirty were injured in clashes with the IDF. On Sunday a Palestinian teenager from Nablus, was killed by IDF fire in Nablus.
Meanwhile, the IDF seige on PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Ramallah compound entered its third day. The IDF pressed ahead with demolishing what was left of Arafat's besieged Muqata on Sunday after he vowed not to give in to Israel and surrender wanted Palestinians holed up inside.
IDF heavy machinery went to work tearing down a governor's office and meeting hall next to the Palestinian leader's battered office bloc, witnesses said.
The destruction will leave the building where Arafat is
trapped the only one standing in a rubble wasteland. Israel, preparing for a long standoff, planted an Israeli flag atop Arafat's office building.
Israel reiterated that it will not hurt Arafat and that it would allow him to go abroad as long as he does not return to the territories.
The IDF renewed Sunday the water supply to the Muqata, after it was cut off earlier in the day. Palestinians said Sunday that the Muqata's air conditioning, electricity and phone lines had also been cut off. The IDF said that it was not aware of a water problem, but said that if it would receive a request to supply food or water, it will do so.
Palestinian sources said that Israel has rejected a U.S. initiative to solve the crisis in the Muqata, Army Radio reported Sunday. The radio said that PA parliament speaker Abu Ala spoke over the weekend with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, and said that the ministers do not intend to solve the crisis. However, he said, Sharon promised that Israel does not intend to harm Arafat.
IDF officials said Sunday that there is no intention to hold negotiations on the release of the 50 wanted Palestinians holed up in the Muqata. "The Bethlehem Church of the Nativity scenario will not repeat itself," the radio quoted the officials as saying.
The IDF also reimposed a curfew Sunday on all West Bank cities except for Bethlehem. A curfew was also imposed on Jericho for the first time since Operation Defensive Shield.
In Ramallah, just a few miles from Arafat's compound, troops fired tear gas Saturday and live bullets to disperse hundreds of men, women and children chanting "long live Arafat, long live Palestine." Two protesters were killed by army fire, hospital officials said. Two more people were killed in the towns of Tul Karm and the Balata refugee camp outside Nablus.
In Tul Karm, gunmen walking in a crowd of about 1,200 people traded fire with Israeli troops Saturday. In the town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, about 5,000 people joined the protests, some firing submachine guns into the air and holding up Arafat pictures.
The demonstrations began shortly after the IDF presented Arafat's bureau with an ultimatum saying that everyone should come out with their hands up because the army planned to demolish a building adjacent to the PA leader's office.
Israel has demanded the surrender of 19 senior figures among the 50 Palestinians inside the building who are wanted for suspected terror links.
Some Israeli officials have hinted that the goal of the operation is to create enough pressure to force Arafat out of Ramallah without Israel having to explicitly deport him.
Sharon: Siege to last until wanted men in Arafat's office surrender
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed Saturday to maintain the siege of the compound, Israel Radio reported.
Sharon, speaking in response to a request by leading Palestinian parliamentarian Abu Ala for Israel to end the siege, said that the IDF presence would remain in the compound until Israel had custody of suspected Palestinian terrorists.
"We have said we are not going to harm Mr. Arafat personally. We usually stand by our word, unlike Arafat who has yet to meet one of his commitments [to rein in terror]," Sharon aide Ra'anan Gissin said.
"The compound continues to be the nerve center of Palestinian terrorism," Foreign Ministry official Aryeh Mekel said Saturday. "The people who are there continue to disseminate orders and to send terrorists to attack Israeli citizens."
Arafat, a few aides and the men wanted by Israel were pinned to a few rooms in a wing of the main office building - the only structure left standing in the once sprawling complex. |
