Building near Gaza school also hit

By Hadell Wahdan, Associated Press, 12/04/01

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Stepping up reprisals for suicide bombings by Palestinian militants, Israel unleashed air strikes Tuesday, and three missiles hit near Yasser Arafat's office as the Palestinian leader worked inside. Arafat was not injured, and Israel said he was not the target of the strike.

In the Gaza Strip, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli missile attack on a security installation, doctors said. The rockets sent hundreds of school children running for cover. Some were bundled into ambulances, while others stumbled as they tried to get away.

The air strikes came just hours after Israel's Cabinet branded Arafat's government a supporter of terrorism and singled out two organizations affiliated with the Palestinian leader as terror groups -- the Tanzim militia and Force 17, a branch of the Palestinian security forces.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has declared an all-out "war on terror" in response to suicide bombings and shooting attacks by Islamic militants on Israelis that killed 26 and wounded nearly 200 during the weekend.

Israel's reprisals were aimed at symbols of Arafat's rule. They effectively grounded the Palestinian leader and confined him to Ramallah. On Monday, Israeli missiles damaged Arafat's three helicopters parked near his seaside office in the Gaza Strip. Early Tuesday, Israeli troops tore up the landing strip at Gaza International Airport.

An adviser to Sharon, speaking just before Tuesday's attack on the Arafat headquarters in Ramallah, said the Palestinian leader himself was not the target.

"We have stated publicly that we do not intend to harm him personally," said the adviser, Danny Ayalon. "But since he is responsible for the wave of terrorism which has been going on, we had to hit something close to him personally."

Three Israeli missiles hit a security station within the walled government compound in Ramallah, about 50 yards from Arafat's office. The shells knocked down a wall and damaged the roof.

"Arafat was in his office working when the Israeli helicopters fired missiles on the places around his office," said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, secretary general of the Palestinian Cabinet. "It's clear now that Sharon has decided to topple the Palestinian Authority and destroy the peace process."

In Gaza City, F-16s fired missiles at the office of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service in a residential neighborhood. Hundreds of children fled a nearby school about 200 yards from the station after the first missile hit.

Children dropped to the ground, screaming, when warplanes swooped down and fired a second missile. A doctor said two people, a 17-year-old student and a 20-year-old man, were killed, and dozens of children were injured by shrapnel and debris. People evacuated buildings in the neighborhood and rescue teams rushed to the area.

"Sharon has declared war on us. God help us," said Ayman Abdul Jawad, 13, running in the street with friends, blood on his head.

Explosions were also heard in other parts of Gaza City. It was not immediately clear what they were. Israel confirmed it also launch an air strike against Palestinian security installations in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza.

At about the same time, Israeli helicopters shelled a Palestinian security installation in the West Bank town of Salfit. There were no reports of injuries.

Israel's Cabinet decision -- declaring Arafat's government a supporter of terrorism -- was meant to step up pressure on Arafat to crack down hard on militants and prevent attacks on Israel, but was not an opening signal for a major assault on the Palestinian Authority, said a Sharon adviser, Raanan Gissin.

"We'll use all the measures at our disposal with greater frequency, with more impunity, to put pressure on Arafat to comply," Gissin said.

Ministers from the moderate Labor party left the Cabinet meeting in protest before the vote was taken. Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh hinted that Labor might quit the coalition, saying that "the unity government is important to us ... but not at every price." Labor favors rehabilitating ties with Arafat.

Israel's retaliation began Monday afternoon when helicopter gunships destroyed or damaged Arafat's three helicopters parked near his seaside compound in Gaza City. F-16 warplanes also bombed Palestinian security installations in the West Bank town of Jenin.

Early Tuesday, Israeli troops tore up the landing strip of Gaza International Airport, a symbol of fledgling Palestinian sovereignty. The airport had been a vital link between the Palestinians and the rest of the world since it was opened in 1998. It was closed to regular traffic for most of the past 14 months of fighting, but Arafat had been able to use it for his frequent trips abroad.

Overnight, Israel sent tanks into parts of Ramallah and the West Bank town of Nablus. In Ramallah, two tanks came within about 800 yards of Arafat's compound in town.

It was not immediately clear whether the Palestinian Authority would continue rounding up suspected Islamic militants following the Israeli strikes. In a sweep that began Sunday night, Palestinian security forces had detained about 130 members of the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups. Arafat also declared a state of emergency.

Sharon charged in a televised speech late Monday that Arafat "is responsible for everything that is happening here" and "has chosen the path of terror (to) try to make diplomatic gains through murder."

However, Sharon stopped short of placing Arafat in Israel's gunsights or threatening to bring down his regime, despite calls for just such steps by some of Sharon's own Cabinet ministers.

The Palestinians had asked Israel to hold off on retaliation for 76 hours to allow them a chance to take steps, said Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. Interviewed on CNN's "Larry King Live" program, Peres said Israel's strikes "should not stop them from continuing to do what they started to do."

The U.S. administration did not criticize the Israeli military action in Palestinian areas, as it has before. In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, "the President's point of view is Israel is a sovereign power. Israel has a right to defend itself."