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Central Command General Yitzhak Eitan during a briefing detailing the Ramallah operation. (IDF Spokesperson
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| By Ellis Shuman March 31, 2002 |
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The IDF Spokesman this morning denied Palestinian claims that Israeli troops had entered the Ramallah offices of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. The army said soldiers had returned fire directed at them from within the building. Earlier, Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, who is not inside the compound, said Israeli forces had stormed the building. Palestinians said two security guards were injured in gun battles.
Senior IDF officers said last night that the army had no intentions to break into Arafat's offices and denied Palestinian claims that Israel had issued Arafat an ultimatum to turn over the murderers of Tourism Minister Rechavam Ze'evi, who have reportedly taken refuge inside the compound. Electricity and water supplies to Arafat's office were restored on Saturday.
The British Independent newspaper reported that Arafat had turned down an offer from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to provide him with his personal helicopter so that Arafat could fly from Ramallah to Cairo. The United States reportedly offered to help negotiate terms with the Israelis, but Arafat told Fox News that he would rather die as a martyr than surrender.
Israeli forces in Ramallah arrested some 70 Palestinians suspected of involvement in terrorist activities, including Karim Awish, deputy commander of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, and his assistant, Khader Debaya. The two are believed responsible for sending many suicide bombers on missions into Israel. The army collected a large amount of illegal weaponry inside Arafat's Mukata compound, including RPG launchers, mortars, Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition. According to media reports, the compound also yielded documents linking PA officials with terrorist attacks inside Israel.
Israeli troops reportedly blockaded the Beituniya offices of West Bank Preventive Security Chief Jabril Rajoub and issued demands that the Palestinians turn over wanted terrorists being held there. Palestinian sources said they believed the IDF was searching for West Bank Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti, who went into hiding shortly after the Israeli military operation began.
Overnight, IDF forces were active in the village of Seida, east of Tulkarm. Islamic Jihad militant Ahmed Azazi and one other Palestinian were killed as the army arrested suspected terrorists in the village before withdrawing. IDF forces remain in Beit Jala, after Palestinians fired a mortar at the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo on Friday, striking the roof of an apartment building.
Military operations expected to expand
Israel's cabinet is due to meet this afternoon to hear reports of the IDF military actions in Ramallah and Beit Jala, and will discuss the next phases of the IDF's "Operation Protective Wall," geared to lessen the threat of terrorist attacks against Israel. Media reports suggested that the army was preparing to widen the campaign to other West Bank cities as well.
Senior IDF officers said that if the military operations did not convince Arafat to accept a cease-fire and an immediate end to terrorist attacks, the next step of "Protective Wall" would be to control Palestinian territories, possibly for months, and bring about the eventual collapse of the Palestinian Authority, Yediot Aharonot reported.
Military sources said that Israel's intentions in reoccupying the territories would be to destroy Palestinian terrorist infrastructure at its roots. Officials said that this possibility was "the least desired and most difficult scenario," and would only be used if the present operations failed, ynet reported.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer confirmed that Israel's military operations would extend over an indefinite period of time. The IDF actions would not bring "100% security to Israeli citizens," he told Maariv, but would enable the army to achieve a substantial reduction in terror by the arrest of wanted terrorists and the capture of weapons and explosive devices.
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