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A Palestinian security officer inspects damage in PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Mukata compound in Ramallah. (AP)
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| By Ellis Shuman June 6, 2002 |
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IDF forces withdrew Thursday morning from Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Mukata government compound in Ramallah, after seizing key positions there during the night. The army destroyed a number of buildings in the southern end of the compound, and a Palestinian security officer was killed, but Arafat was not injured. Arafat said the action, part of an Israeli reprisal to yesterday's bombing of a bus at the Megiddo junction, would only strengthen the resolve of the Palestinian people.
The army said that engineering and armored corps units entered Ramallah and seized "key positions around the Mukata, that serves as the center of Palestinian Authority control." The army said that the PA was directly responsible for recent terror attacks, including the Megiddo bombing in which 17 Israelis were killed and nearly 40 others injured.
The Israeli forces entered Ramallah shortly after 2 a.m., imposed a curfew on the city and declared the Mukata a closed military zone. Gunfire exchanges broke out with armed Palestinians, and Palestinian sources said that a security officer was killed and five others were injured in the gun battle. There were no casualties to the Israeli forces.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that the operation was intended to show the Palestinians that Israel holds the PA responsible for terror attacks against Israeli citizens. Ben-Eliezer said that Arafat and the PA were doing nothing to combat terror. "We cannot turn a blind eye to these terror attacks, and the security forces and the IDF will take every step to end the terror," he said, hinting of additional operations.
Arafat was not hurt during the six-hour siege. His aides said parts of the complex containing Arafat's sleeping quarters were badly damaged by shelling.
A spokesman for the army, Capt. Jacob Dallal, said Arafat was not the target of the operation. "If there had been any intention of harming Arafat, it would not have been a problem," he said.
"No one can defeat the Palestinian people," Arafat said, when he left the compound Thursday morning. Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the overnight assault was "another indication of the comprehensive Israeli war against the Palestinian Authority."
Israeli forces also withdrew to the outskirts of Nablus, after launching operations in the city last Friday. Operations continued in Hebron and nearby villages; four Palestinians suspected of terrorist activities were arrested in the area. Additional arrests were made near Bethlehem and Tulkarm.
Shortly after the terrorist bombing on Wednesday, Israeli forces moved into Jenin, just fifteen kilometers south of the Megiddo junction. The IDF said troops were conducting "routine" patrols in the city, but military sources said that the operations in Jenin were due to be expanded. The suicide bomber who perpetrated the Megiddo bombing was identified as Ramzi Samudi, 18, an Islamic Jihad activist from Jenin.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon delayed his departure to Washington for talks with President George W. Bush until Saturday night, in the wake of the bus bombing. Administration officials were reportedly closely following the Israeli incursion into Ramallah. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Bush administration did not give Sharon a green light to launch the incursion, Ha'aretz reported.
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