WEST BANK: ISRAELI ARMOUR HAVE RUMBLED INTO JENIN, A DAY AFTER TANKS AND TROOPS STORMED PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT'S COMPOUND IN RAMALLAH

Record ID: 400551

  • Title: WEST BANK: ISRAELI ARMOUR HAVE RUMBLED INTO JENIN, A DAY AFTER TANKS AND TROOPS STORMED PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT'S COMPOUND IN RAMALLAH
  • Date: 7th June 2002
  • Summary: (U4) JENIN, WEST BANK (JUNE 7, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. TV/LV OF CITY; TOP VIEW ISRAELI TANKS MOVING; ISRAELI HELICOPTER OVERHEAD FIRING (3 SHOTS) 0.26 (W4) JENIN, WEST BANK (JUNE 7, 2002) (REUTERS) 2. GV/LV/SLV SMOKE RISING FROM BUILDING THAT WAS SHELLED; ISRAELI ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIERS AND TANKS DRIVING IN STREETS; PALESTINIANS IN STREET
  • Embargoed: 22nd June 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JENIN AND RAMALLAH, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA1ZLI0V7MCZRKOS5YEVFE9X1NJ
  • Story Text: Israeli armour have rumbled into the centre of the
    West Bank city of Jenin, keeping pressure on the Palestinians
    a day after tanks and troops stormed President Yasser Arafat's
    compound in Ramallah.

    The stepped-up incursions across the West bank follow a
    suicide bombing that killed 17 Israelis, including 13
    soldiers, on Wednesday (June 5) at the Megiddo crossroads,
    near Jenin.

    Arafat has urged the international community to intervene
    to stop Israeli attacks on Palestinian-ruled areas.



    The 30-vehicle column, described by the army as a
    routine patrol, moved through Jenin, regarded by Israel as a
    stronghold for militants behind suicide attacks.

    Helicopter gunships fired overhead and there were accounts
    of soldiers firing in the air. The army said Palestinians
    threw three explosive devices at forces as they moved through
    the city. No casualties were reported.

    The stepped-up incursions across the West bank follow a
    suicide bombing that killed 17 Israelis, including 13
    soldiers, on Wednesday (June 5) at the nearby Megiddo
    crossroads. The bomber, Aref Samoudi, was from Jenin. Israeli
    forces raided the city just hours after the bombing.

    The Israeli bus was on its way from Tel Aviv when Samoudi
    rammed his bomb-laden car into the vehicle.

    The death toll was the heaviest in any attack on Israelis
    since a six-week Israeli offensive in the West Bank launched
    to try to stop suicide attacks.

    On Thursday (June 6) Israel sent tanks and troops into
    Ramallah where they blew up buildings and shelled Palestinian
    President Yasser Arafat's living quarters in a six-hour
    reprisal raid on his presidential compound for Wednesday's
    bombing.

    Arafat emerged unhurt and accused Israel of "fascism"
    after the force pulled out of Ramallah.

    On Friday (June 7) Palestinians and visitors to the
    compound continued to survey damage to the buildings.

    Arafat's bedroom was damaged. Arafat himself had been
    working downstairs at the time.

    The Israeli military denied targeting the Palestinian
    leader, who often works through the night in his nearby
    office.

    Washington has warned Israel against harming or toppling
    Arafat.

    But U.S. officials sharpened criticism of him after
    Wednesday's bombing, with White House spokesman Ari Fleischer
    saying: "In the president's eyes, Yasser Arafat has never
    played a role of someone who can be trusted and who is
    effective."
    However the White House said it was not clear what
    Israel's aims were in carrying out the Ramallah raid,
    stressing that both sides needed to take "constructive steps"
    towards peacemaking.

    Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the
    raid in Ramallah aimed "to focus responsibility on the
    behaviour of the Palestinian Authority for terror in general
    and the current wave in particular".

    The latest developments have heightened tensions ahead of
    Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's visit to Washington next week
    and undercut a new round of international diplomacy aimed at
    breaking a vicious cycle of Middle East violence and reviving
    peace talks.

    "We will continue vigorous efforts in order to assist the
    parties and urge them to go back to the table and to use non
    violent means in order to solve the conflict", U.N. envoy to
    the Middle East Terje Larsen said after a meeting with Arafat
    on Friday.

    But Arafat continued to condemn the Israeli actions and
    called for intervention by the international community.

    "I am addressing this appeal to the whole international
    world to stop this Fascism, this Nazism, this dirty work they
    (the Israelis) are doing against our people, against our
    children, against our women, against our holy sacred places,
    Christian and Muslim holy sacred places, against our refugees
    including Jeningrad, not Stalingrad, Jeningrad", Arafat said.

    He was speaking after attending Muslim Friday prayers at a
    mosque in Ramallah.

    Since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation
    began 20 months ago, the army has erected nearly 170
    checkpoints and makeshift roadblocks in the West Bank and Gaza
    Strip, stifling the movement of more than three million
    Palestinians.

    Israel says the blockades are needed to prevent
    Palestinian militants waging the uprising and staging attacks
    in Israel.

    Many Palestinians regard them as collective punishment and
    as a symbol of humiliation and oppression. They say they
    simply breed hatred that leads to such attacks.


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