Israel rejects Arafat offer; tanks roll

RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 29 — Israeli tanks surrounded Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s headquarters in the West Bank early Friday as the Israeli cabinet met in an all-night session to debate a military strike designed to drive him into exile. The attack came only hours after Arafat made a last-ditch promise to work for “an immediate cease-fire” with Israel and after Palestinian security forces began arresting militants in the West Bank.

NBC NEWS correspondent Dana Lewis, reporting from Ramallah, said he could hear heavy machine-gun fire and blasts similar to tank rounds. Some of the sounds appeared to come from the direction of Arafat’s compound, Lewis said, but he was not immediately able to confirm the exact location.

Israeli tanks were parked next to all three gates to Arafat’s compound in the center of the town, witnesses said, closer than Israeli forces have approached in the past.

Israeli army sources told NBC News that “a targeted operation” was under way in reaction to a suicide bombing Wednesday night that killed 21 people at a Passover dinner. Military sources said the government had authorized the mobilization of additional reserve combat units, but did not give further details, The Associated Press reported.

Palestinian sources told NBC that at least 10 Palestinians had been wounded as about 30 tanks rolled into Ramallah from the north and approached Arafat’s office from two directions. Arafat was believed to be in his office with several senior aides, Lewis reported near dawn from Ramallah, where he was taking shelter as the tanks moved to within 1,000 feet of the headquarters building.

Lewis reported hearing heavy machine-gun fire accompanied by 15 to 20 tank rounds in less than an hour.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon scheduled a news conference for Thursday night, but it was delayed by a meeting at which his cabinet was discussing military action that would drive Arafat into exile, NBC’s Martin Fletcher reported from Tel Aviv.

Lewis reported that Palestinians in Ramallah characterized that prospect as “a terrific, tremendous turning point” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If Arafat were pushed out, “all hell would break loose,” he said, quoting Palestinians in Ramallah.

Throughout the day Thursday, Israeli officials made it clear that their patience with Arafat was near an end.

Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin dismissed Arafat’s welcoming of a cease-fire, saying Israel was “fed up with declarations and wants to see actions.”

“[Arafat] will be judged by his deeds and not by his words,” Gissin said. “This is the 10th cease-fire that he declared and probably will violate. He has not taken one action to stop terrorist activity.”

In a move clearly aimed at convincing Israeli and U.S. critics that he was cracking down on militant groups who have carried out a series of deadly attacks on Israel, Arafat’s security forces began arresting activists of the Islamic militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron and Nablus.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said there would be more arrests in other parts of the West Bank and Gaza, and witnesses in Hebron said security forces had started raiding homes of suspected militants. At least two Hamas members were taken into custody, they said.

Hamas claimed responsibility for Wednesday night’s attack, which the Palestinian Authority said it “strongly condemned.” A member of the organization blew himself up in the midst of diners in a Netanya hotel on Wednesday as the weeklong celebration of Passover was beginning, marking the second-deadliest such bombing in the 18-month Palestinian uprising.

The arrests came as Arafat promised to work for an immediate end to violence. He said at a news conference in Ramallah that he had told U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni, whose truce efforts continued despite Wednesday’s suicide bombing, that he was ready for a cease-fire “without any conditions.”

Arafat did not say whether the Palestinians had accepted Zinni’s specific timetable, which they effectively rejected two days earlier.

Arafat condemned reports that Israel was planning massive military retaliation to the latest suicide bombing.

“Unfortunately, there are some aggressive preparations by the Israelis to do a wide military operation against our civilians, our cities and our refugee camps that is targeting mainly the people,” he said.

The White House took a wait-and-see approach. A senior administration official refused to characterize this latest offer by the Palestinians as hopeful, saying only, “I would avoid using any adjectives. We’ve heard what he said and we are analyzing it. We will rely on the advice of General Zinni.”

Despite the deadly suicide attack Wednesday night, Zinni’s cease-fire efforts continued Thursday in a painstaking effort to end the bloodshed and pave the way for peace talks. More than 1,550 people have died during the current uprising, about three-quarters of them Palestinians.

More blood was spilled Thursday when a Palestinian gunmen killed four people and wounded two others in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. But it was Wednesday’s attack, because of its deadliness and timing, that raised the pressure on Israel’s leadership to respond with force. About 80 people remained in hospitals Thursday, including about 20 in serious condition. “They attacked innocent Israelis on one of the most sacred nights to Jewish people, Passover,” said Gideon Meir, an Israeli government spokesman. In anticipation of a possible Israeli strike, Palestinian government offices were evacuated in the West Bank. In Ramallah, Arafat’s West Bank headquarters, worried parents took their children home early from school and residents stocked up on food. Israeli troops tightened blockades of Palestinian towns across the West Bank and halted Palestinian traffic between the northern and southern Gaza Strip.

HUMAN SHIELDS Hundreds of pro-Palestinian foreigners arrived Thursday in Ramallah to offer themselves as human shields against Israeli forces. French anti-globalization activist Jose Bove, second from right, demonstrates with other European peace activists Thursday in Ramallah. About 600 activists, most of them European members of the group Public International Protection, arrived for 10-day stays with local families. “We are going to stay here in Ramallah, in particular, to provide the Palestinians with protection,” said French farmers union leader Jose Bove, who is best known for vandalizing a McDonald’s in France. “The Israeli government and our governments all know that we are in Ramallah. Sharon must understand that if he decides to bombard Ramallah, he is going to bombard hundreds of foreigners.”

ARAB PEACE INITIATIVE Meanwhile, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah presented a new peace initiative at the Arab summit in Beirut, Lebanon, offering Israel normal relations with the Arab world in exchange for a complete withdrawal from the territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

The proposal was formally approved Thursday in Beirut. Arafat embraced the initiative in a televised speech and said he hoped it would be adopted. Israeli officials responded guardedly, saying the Saudi plan was too vague and somewhat weakened the idea of “normalization” initially floated by Abdullah. The prince’s last-minute addition — a demand that Israel recognize the right of return of Palestinian refugees — is “totally unacceptable,” said Danny Ayalon, an adviser to Sharon. The militant Hamas rejected the Arab peace initiative and vowed to continue “all kinds of resistance.” “The summit resolutions are below the aspirations and the sacrifices of the Palestinian people,” said Osama Hamdan, Hamas’ representative in Lebanon. “The resolutions ignored a lot of the Palestinian people’s demands.”

NBC’s Dana Lewis in Ramallah, Martin Fletcher in Tel Aviv and Norah O’Donnell in Washington; MSNBC.com’s Alex Johnson; The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Another poster who evidently lacks the intelligence to say anything intelligent about the Israeli usurpation of Palestinian lands.

Israeli usurpation? Oh please, learn your history!!! Israel tried giving it back to Egypt after the 7 day war (in which Israel kicked Egypt's asses) but Egypt didn't WANT the land back.

The Egyptians had the same problems with the Palestinians that the Israeli's do. Egypt didn't want the land - or the Palestinian problem - back. They told Israel to keep the land.

But ask yourself this question, why didn't Egypt give the Palestinians a homeland when Egypt controlled the land? Hmmmm???

You anti-semite knee-pad wearing Arafart apologists really have a sick, twisted view of things...

"... The French Underground is one of the most overrated movements of all time."

Not to cheapen the honor of those who *did* serve in the French Underground, but it is true that most everyone who claims to have been in it joined after the war was over...

...if you catch my drift.

Who knows, maybe their reporters in the field are regrouping. MSNBC was the only network with one guy close, that I could tell anyway, and he said he was 5 minutes from Arafat's headquarters, reporting heavy machine gunfire and shelling. That was about 45 min ago. I don't know that Fox or CNN had anyone right there in Ramallah. Could be that the IDF pushed MSNBC further back. We'll wait up and see.

Ha'aretz online has small headline saying 2 of Arafat's bodyguards injured in ongoing exchange. MSNBC now saying Sharon to speak at 1215 est. They are also reporting the IDF have blasted a hole in Arafat's headquarters and an imminent assault is feared.

One Fatality in Netzarim Attack

(IsraelNN.com) At least one person has been killed in the early morning terrorist infiltration into the Gaza community of Netzarim. Others were wounded. The exact number and extent of their injuries is unknown at this time. Army forces and border police are searching the community for the terrorist(s) believed to still be in the area.

The attack occurred this morning outside of the community synagogue. One person, a guest visiting for the Passover holiday, was stabbed and critically wounded and transported to the Soroka Medical Center. Additional confirmed details will be published as they become available.

Another poster who evidently lacks the intelligence to say anything intelligent about the Israeli usurpation of Palestinian lands.

At least I'm not dumb enough to defend those who blow up men, women and children (babies included) as a policy of warfare...and who preach murder and mayhem as a tenet of their religion.

I have a feeling that if a vote were taken as to our comparative IQs in this regard, you would not fare so well in this forum.

If you think justifying the actions of terrorists is smart, you have a serious problem that I certainly can't help you with.

In fact, you might want to have the orderly up the meds.

Israel does not belong to the Arabs. They possess over 90% of the land in the Middle East...let the Arabs quit coveting the little bit that the Jews have, and all of the problems would cease.

Then wreak complete havoc.

Shakespeare's Mark Anthony had it right in Julius Caesar:

'Cry "havoc!" and let loose the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.'

I ask that you learn your history of the deceptive encroachments of Jewish kibbutizm, on to British/Jewish collaboration with Samuels the pro-Zionist made administer of the Palestinian lands, on to waves of Jews illegally entering, despite the Hope-Simpson report warning that the land could not sustain them, on to the World Zionist Russian Jew Vladimir Jabutinsky advancing a militaristic approach against the Palestinian people there, creating a 2nd of the first terrorist organizations there,both Jewish,and you'll have accurate history. If we had created a state of Israel in our country as once contemplated without the agreement of AZ residents, we would expect them at least to fight Israelis there, who presumably would again have confiscated their land as Zionists did in Palestine.
Your version of Egypt's truce is false, as it was coerced.

I do not post replies to people who write idotic comments because I want another idiotic response from them, but so many posters who evidently are not familiar with the injustices wrought by Israel can know them, and believe me, they read my posts, so you might also try to post something intelligent in response , not for me, but for those who look for any weasel response that could be used to justify Israeli terrorism.

Your version of Egypt's truce is false, as it was coerced.

This statement calls into question your basic reading skills, since another poster made that comment.

But since you directed it to me erroneously, I will answer it anyway:

Coerced?

Israel was attacked (with the intent to slaughter and destroy every man, woman and child); Israel fought back and won; the terms of the attacked victor are hardly coercion...they are the rightful spoils of war...JUST by any standard of civilised people.

In my opinion the Israelis were too kind to the aggressors.

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