WEST BANK: ISRAELI FORCES SIEGE ON YASSER ARAFAT'S PALESTINIAN HEADQUARTERS SHELLING AND DEMOLISHING BUILDINGS IN THE PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND.
Record ID:
400671
WEST BANK: ISRAELI FORCES SIEGE ON YASSER ARAFAT'S PALESTINIAN HEADQUARTERS SHELLING AND DEMOLISHING BUILDINGS IN THE PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND.
- Title: WEST BANK: ISRAELI FORCES SIEGE ON YASSER ARAFAT'S PALESTINIAN HEADQUARTERS SHELLING AND DEMOLISHING BUILDINGS IN THE PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND.
- Date: 20th September 2002
- Summary: (W3) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 21, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS: ISRAELI ARMY BULLDOZER PUSHING RUBBLE OUTSIDE YASSER ARAFAT HEADQUARTERS. (2 SHOTS) 0.38 2. SLV: EXTERIOR OF PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT'S HEADQUARTERS IN RAMALLAH 0.44 3. VARIOUS/PAN: DAMAGED BRIDGE CONNECTING TEO WINGS OF ARAFAT'S HEADQUARTERS. (4 SH
- Embargoed: 5th October 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: RAMALLAH, WEST BANK / JERUSALEM
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVACH762OHBN238LED456IF47BA8
- Story Text: Israeli forces have tightened a siege of the
headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, shelling
several buildings in the presidential compound and demolishing
others in an operation the Israeli Defence Force says is
intended to force out militants holed up in the compound.
By Saturday morning (September 21), the main building
housing Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's private offices
appeared to be the last one standing in what, before Israel's
first major incursion into the West Bank city of Ramallah
earlier this year, had been a sprawling complex of multi-floor
buildings.
Army bulldozers cleared rubble from around the building,
leaving it in full view of Israeli tank positions
On Friday (September 20) evening, Palestinians inside the
buildings said Arafat was showered with dust when a tank shell
hit the floor above him, as Israel pressed home its message:
surrender militants inside the buildings or else....
The siege, which followed back-to-back Palestinian
bombings which killed seven people and shattered a six-week
lull in such attacks, drew censure world-wide and raised fears
of a new surge of violence as Washington considers military
action against Iraq.
Israel said the goal was not to harm Arafat, whom they
blame for attacks on Israelis, but to tighten his isolation
and force the handover of wanted militants believed to be
holed up inside.
"In the past forty days we have had relative quiet and
this was a good time indeed for the Chairman and for the
present leadership of the Palestinian Authority to take the
matter into their hands and to fight terrorism and to make
sure that no more suicide bombers explode in Israel.
Unfortunately they did not do so and that's why we had to go
there and go after those terrorists and make sure that we do
whatever is needed in order to prevent them from perpetrating
the next terrorist act," said Brigadier General Ruty Yaron,
Chief Military Spokesperson for the Israeli Army.
But Palestinian officials have expressed fears for
Arafat's safety as army bulldozers tore down the bridge
linking the two wings of his building, demolished the main
access staircase and destroyed most other structures in the
compound.
Senior Palestinian officials have asked Israeli Defence
Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to halt the assault so the
stand-off could be resolved through dialogue.
Soon after midnight GMT, after another burst of firing
from tanks inside the compound, the guns fell silent.
Earlier, television footage showed at least 19 men coming out
with their hands up and being bound and blindfolded by waiting
soldiers.
A Palestinian official holed up with Arafat in the last
standing building of the Moqata'a, or presidential complex,
said the men had surrendered for fear of the building
collapsing on them. He said some of the Palestinians were
injured.
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