- Title: VARIOUS: ISRAELI OPERATIONS CONTINUE IN WEST BANK AND GAZA/ LATEST.
- Date: 27th June 2002
- Summary: (W3) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (JUNE 27, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/LV: ISRAELI TANK OUTSIDE PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFATS COMPOUND; BURNED OUT WINDOW AT ARAFAT COMPOUND; PILES OF DESTROYED CARS AT COMPOUND; COMPOUND (4 SHOTS) 0.27 2. GV/TILT: PALESTINIAN LABOUR MINISTER GHASSAN KHATIB WALKING DOWN STEPS 0.36 3. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (
- Embargoed: 12th July 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: RAMALLAH, HEBRON AND BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK/ JERUSALEM/ RAFAH, SOUTHERN GAZA
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVA20Q6I3BX54PDJX5XT8VLFCUX7
- Story Text: The Palestinian Authority responded to US President
George W. Bushs threat of cutting financial aid to the
Palestinians if they did not implement reforms by saying the
current violence in the region was the direct result of
Israeli agression.
As Israeli forces maintained their grip on Palestinian
President Yasser Arafats compound in the West Bank town of
Ramallah on Thursday (June 27) the United States stepped up
the pressure.
Arafat's offices were almost completely destroyed in
Israel's previous incursion last April and Israeli tanks have
sealed off his compound once more.
Meanwhile U.S. President George W. Bush said late on
Wednesday that U.S. assistance to the Palestinians would be
contingent on their embrace of reforms and rejection of
terrorism.
Palestinian Labour Minister Ghassan Khatib said the
problem was not so much one of reform but of Israeli agression
against Palestinians.
Bush issued his threat at a summit of major industrialised
nations in Canada just hours after Arafat called new elections
for next January and set plans to run again despite U.S.
opposition. Opinion polls show Arafat the likely winner.
"Unfortunately this recent statement from President Bush
is not constructive because it is coming at a time when Israel
has been launching an economic warfare against the
palestinians
confining 2 million of them in their houses and causing
dramatic economic deterioration. This economic deterioration
is a recipe for increasing frustration and the hatred and
consequently the violence," Khatib said in Ramallah.
Shortly after Bush spoke Israeli troops flatened 10
Palestinians homes in Rafah, near the border with Egypt,
overnight.
The Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered the refugee camp
soon after midnight where they also damaged five other houses.
Israel says it is operating in Gaza all the time in an
attempt to crack down on Islamic militant Hamas activists and
have vowed to enter any where they believe there are
Palestinian militants.
The army said armed gunmen ran to the camp to stop the
demolition. Six Palestinians were wounded in the firefight.
Residents at the camp say they have lost everything including
hope.
"They (Israelis) are destroying our homes, killing our
husbands and our children.. how worse can it get?" one woman,
whose house was completely destroyed by Israeli buldozers,
asked.
Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman Arthur Lenk said the
government welcomed reforms from the Palestinian Authority but
that they should be backed up by action.
"Whats really needed (from the palestinians) is action but
if the reforms are real and if words are changed into actions
then it would be positive for the Palestinian people and
certainly would be positive for the Israeli people," he said.
Israel has re-occupied seven West Bank cities over the
last week following the latest suicide bomb attack in which 26
Israelis were killed.
And in Hebron, the army has pounded the besieged
Palestinian Authority headquarters for the third day running.
Israel says dozens of wanted Palestinian militants are
holed up inside and that they will continue hitting the
building wtih helicopter gunships, rockets, tanks and machine
guns until they surrendered.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None