CNN Israeli army attacks Palestinian targets

March 28, 2001 Web posted at: 1:02 PM EST (1802 GMT)

GAZA (CNN) -- The Israel Defense Forces launched attacks against targets in Gaza and the West Bank on Wednesday, in retaliation for three bombings over two days that killed four people and wounded dozens more.

The Israeli army said it attacked "selected targets" in the West Bank town of Ramallah and in Gaza City.

Witnesses said helicopter gunships and tanks were used in the attacks, which came as a meeting of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's inner cabinet ended.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

Answers

Israelis Shell Palestinian Cities The Associated Press Wednesday, March 28, 2001; 1:04 p.m. EST

JERUSALEM –– Israeli forces shelled targets in Gaza City and the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday after a suicide bomber killed himself and two Israeli teen-agers and two other bombs were found and defused.

Before the Israeli attack, Palestinian officials evacuated the main Palestinian Authority headquarters building in Ramallah, saying that the Israeli military warned them to leave, indicating an impending attack.

The militant Palestinian group Hamas claimed responsibility for the suicide attack at Sdeh Hemed, on the line between Israel and the West Bank, releasing a videotaped recording made by the alleged suicide bomber before the attack.

There were no immediate details about the targets the Israelis were hitting in the two cities. The bomber, Dia Tawil, 20, said he came from Ramallah. After the suicide attack, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon charged that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was responsible for a wave of attacks by Palestinian militants against Israelis in recent days.

"Unfortunately, he remains a leader of terror," Sharon said of Arafat earlier Wednesday. He promised that if Israel's "deterrent has been slightly eroded, it will be fully restored."

The shelling came hours after an Arab summit ended in Amman, Jordan. Israel had apparently wanted to avoid any retaliation to a string of bombings over the past two days during the gathering of Arab heads of state to prevent any escalation.

Israel has said Arafat has released hundreds of Islamic militants from prison in recent months, and that gunmen of the Tanzim militia affiliated with Arafat's Fatah movement have killed a number of Israelis in shooting attacks.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Nabil Amr denied the Palestinian Authority had any ties to the bombings. He called on Israel to resume peace talks and lift its travel restrictions on Palestinians, in effect for most of the past six months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

Since late September, 440 people have been killed, including 359 Palestinians, 62 Israeli Jews and 19 others.

© Copyright 2001 The Associated Press

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

they surprised even me with this one. didn`t think they would do anything before the weekend. sure didn`t waste any time, just a few hours after the arab summit ended. any guess on what the next move by arafat and the palestinians will be?

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

this explains why they are hitting Force 17, eh?

Arafat Secretly Planned Terror Campaign in Ramallah March 28: Information coming in from DEBKAfile’s intelligence and military sources in the last few hours puts the current wave of Palestinian terrorist outrages in true perspective. The first disclosure is that it was meticulously planned and timed by Yasser Arafat himself during the visits he paid to Ramallah this month, the first since the onset of the intifada last September. The men he placed in charge of the operation are Amin al-Hindi, Gaza-based chief of General Intelligence (an accomplice in the 1972 murder of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics), Tawfiq Tirawi, head of West Bank General Intelligence, and Arafat’s brother, Mussa, who heads Palestinian Military Intelligence.

The second two have their command posts in Ramallah. The three men were ordered to organize a concerted campaign involving all the Palestinian militant groups, each playing its part. Therefore the Hamas military arm, Izz-e-Din El Qassam’s claim of responsibility for three suicide bombings – March 5: Netanya, in which 3 Israelis were killed and 80 injured; March 27: French Hill, Jerusalem, in which 31 Israelis were injured; and March 28: Kalkilya, in which two 15-year old Israeli schoolchildren, Eliran Rosenberg from Givat Shmuel and Naftali Landskorn from Petach Tikva, were killed and 4 injured – is only part of the full picture.

Hamas “martyrs” could not have operated without support from tens of operatives involved in logistics, planning and reconnaissance as well as receiving careful training. The three intelligence chiefs were told to make sure of compartmentalizing the data for coming strikes, so that no single bomber knew more than was necessary. Another of Arafat’s directives to the three commanders was to abandon the cellphone detonation method while the Arab summit was in progress and switch to suicides and car bombs for maximum effect and damage. The last cellphone bomb was planted in a car in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim on March 22. It was spotted in time to prevent an explosion. In Hebron, one of Arafat’s Force 17 sharpshooters was assigned with targeting 10-month old Shalhevet Pass using a telescopic rifle.

In preparing this campaign, Arafat pulled the wool over the eyes of the Israeli Shin Beit, military intelligence and the CIA, when he claimed he stayed away from Ramallah for fear of his life. He therefore demanded the protection of hundreds of his presidential guard, Force 17, when he received US secretary of State Colin Powell in that town last month. Israeli authorities let those guardsmen pass through from Gaza.

It now transpires that the Force 17 contingent never returned to Gaza but was left behind in Ramallah by Arafat as the core of the operational force executing the current terrorist campaign.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

Paragraphs, Mutter! At least jam an (p) but use < > where you want them to go.

(Note from OG--sometimes an article shows paragraph spacing but it doesn't come out as spacing when you post it. Unless you're an admin, you can't get in and edit, unfortunately. Don't know who went in and paragraphed, but thanks, it's a good read.)

As for the attack, the polite version is "here we go!" ... we knew it was coming. It was just a matter of time.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

They are bombing residential areas, a departure from their usual practice.

BBC

Wednesday, 28 March, 2001, 18:15 GMT 19:15 UK

Israel bombs Palestinian towns

The Israeli army has begun bombing Palestinian targets in Gaza and the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Eyewitnesses report seeing heavy fire from helicopters in North and South Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority evacuated its main headquarters in Ramallah after receiving a warning from the Israeli security services.

The Israeli Army says the attack has targeted the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's presidential buildings and other targets chosen for involvement in what they called "terrorism".

The Israeli Government earlier held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss its response to the recent violence.

On Wednesday, a Palestinian suicide bomber targeted a group of children waiting for a school bus on the border between Israel and the West Bank, leaving at least three people including the bomber dead and several critically injured

The BBC correspondent in Jerusalem, Hilary Andersson, says the bombardment of residential areas marks a departure from the government's stated position that it does not have a policy of retaliation.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

I (p)'d on mutters post. And then had to fix my own... LOL

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

Thursday, March 29 2:13 AM SGT

Israeli attacks over: army JERUSALEM, March 28 (AFP) - Israeli raids on Gaza City and the West Bank city of Ramallah are over, military spokesman General Ron Kitri said on Israeli television late Wednesday.

He was speaking shortly after correspondents reported attacks by helicopter gunships on both cities, as well as shelling of Ramallah.

The Israeli military said the targets were positions of Force 17, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's personal bodyguard.

Only minutes later army spokesman General Ron Kitri said on television that the raids were over.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

Mar 28, 2001 - 03:34 PM

Israeli Forces Rocket Palestinian Headquarters By Ibrahim Barzak Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Israeli helicopters rocketed headquarters of Force 17, Yasser Arafat's elite guard, in Gaza and the West Bank town of Ramallah on Wednesday, retaliating for a wave of bombings, including a suicide attack that killed two Israeli teen- agers. Red flares lit up the night sky over Ramallah, where two people were killed in the assault, and flames leaped from burning buildings and cars as firefighters tried to put out multiple blazes.

Doctors in Ramallah said the dead included a member of Force 17 and a female civilian, and that several people were injured. In Gaza City, at least nine Palestinians were wounded, two of them critically, doctors said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has repeatedly accused Force 17 of involvement in attacks against Israeli civilians.

"The purpose is to strike directly at those responsible for terrorism," the Israeli military said in a statement. The military said it hit the Force 17 headquarters in Ramallah, and four Force 17 targets around Gaza City and Deir al-Balah in the southern Gaza Strip - including a training camp and an arms depot.

The buildings under attack - all in areas governed by Arafat's Palestinian Authority under peace agreements - had been evacuated after the Israeli military warned the Palestinians to leave.

The nighttime assault came hours after a suicide bomber detonated nail-filled explosives strapped to his body near a group of Jewish seminary students waiting at the roadside near the West Bank, killing two. The previous day, militants carried out back-to-back attacks, including a suicide attack that injured two dozen people.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for both suicide bombings and said more bombers were ready to strike.

Sharon, who had been under mounting pressure to respond the string of attacks, called his security Cabinet into session minutes before the Israeli offensive began.

"We are witnessing grave terrorist activities - terrorist activities that the chairman of the Palestinian Authority (Arafat) has not been willing until now to control," Sharon said.

Israel says Arafat has released hundreds of Islamic militants from prison in recent months, and that gunmen of the Tanzim militia affiliated with Arafat's Fatah movement have killed a number of Israelis in shooting attacks during the past six months of violence.

Since the uprising began in late September, 443 people have been killed, including 362 Palestinians, 62 Israeli Jews and 19 others.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Nabil Amr denied the Palestinian Authority had any ties to the bombings in recent days.

The Israeli assault came soon after an Arab summit ended in Jordan. Israel had apparently wanted to avoid any retaliation during the gathering of Arab heads of state.

Israel launched a similar helicopter assault in October, striking Palestinian police buildings in Ramallah and near Arafat's headquarters in Gaza City, in retaliation for the mob killing of two Israeli reserve soldiers in Ramallah.

The latest suicide bomber targeted a group of teen-agers who had been dropped off at a gas station Wednesday morning near the communal farm of Sdeh Hemed, about 15 miles northeast of Tel Aviv near the boundary of the West Bank. The teens were waiting for a bus to their school in the West Bank.

The assailant, described as a man in his late 20s with black hair and a mustache, approached the youngsters.

"He looked at them. Then the explosion went off," said one of the students, Rafael Somer, 15, suppressing tears. "I was hurled backward. When I got up, I saw one of my friends without hands. Another friend was torn apart." Somer was lightly injured.

Another survivor, 12-year-old Hananel Twito, said he became suspicious because the stranger wore a black leather jacket zipped up to the neck, despite the hot weather. The bomb was studded with nails, for greater deadliness.

The boys killed in the blast were identified as Eliran Rosenberg, 16, and Naftali Landskoren, 14.

Bombs also were discovered Wednesday morning in markets in two other towns, Netanya and Petah Tikvah. They were exploded safely. Earlier this month, four people, including a Palestinian suicide bomber, were killed in a blast in Netanya.

Hamas released a video of a young man it said was the suicide bomber in Tuesday's attack. He identified himself as Dia Hussein Mohammed Tawil of Ramallah. Sitting with automatic rifles at his side, he said he was one of the Hamas "martyrs prepared to turn their bodies and their bones into shrapnel that will kill the Zionist occupiers."

In the West Bank town of Hebron, meanwhile, seven Palestinian-owned cars were torched in the Abu Sneineh neighborhood, apparently by Jewish settlers avenging the killing of a 10-month-old Israeli baby girl earlier this week by Palestinian gunfire. The army said snipers fired the shots at the Jewish enclave from the Abu Sneineh area.

AP-ES-03-28-01 1533EST © Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

I'm home and have CNN on in the background. I don't think the present situation is merely "hit and run." I expect there will be extended fighting on both sides. Don't forget to keep an eye on China and Russia.

Thanks, Barefoot, for fixing Mutter's post. It was an excellent read, and I getting a little frustrated at wading through the block but pushed myself through because the content was so good.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

meemur and all, sorry for screwing up the place with that post. [new here ya know] didn`t realize it does that sometimes. [btw, how will i know when/if it does ahead of time?] should i just put (p) using <> in all my articles?

help me......:)

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

So, is everyone familiar with the link to the webcam of the Western Wall?

http://aish.com/wallcam/Window_on_the_Wall.asp

I tune as a check to make sure the Mideast hasn't totally imploded at any point in time.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

Mutter, when in doubt, slide a few (p) < it goes in here > codes in, since we mere mortals can't edit our posts. You don't have to do it every three lines, just a few times so if the spacing messes up, it's still readable. Alternatively, if you have time, you could quickly check back, and if the post is a mess, repost it with a few (p).

Since tempers have been running high in other places, I'll add that my comment wasn't a criticism! I was glad that you posted that article. I was just frustrated that it was hard to read. I know that getting used to manual html again is a challenge, one you're mastering quite well! I make a lot of mistakes, too, and sometime, you'll probably have to clean up a post from me where I forgot to close a tag or something.

Thanks for keeping an eye on the Middle East. I have to shut off the computer and TV now and do some meditation, read some humor so that I can sleep well tonight. Someone said that sleep is a weapon. I believe that!

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

thanks meemur. i feel better now too. now get outta here and get some rest. see ya tomorow....:)

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001

here it is in all it`s glory. the 'word' from the U.S. on todays events in Israel.......

WASHINGTON, March 28 (Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday President Bush was "deeply concerned" about an escalation of Middle East violence and called on Palestinians and the Israelis to exercise restraint. "The Palestinian Authority should speak out publicly against violence and terrorism, arrest the perpetrators of terrorist acts, and resume security cooperation. The government of Israel should exercise restraint while taking steps to restore normalcy for the lives of the Palestinian people by easing closures and removing checkpoints," the White House said in a statement.

"The president is deeply concerned about the escalation of violence in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza that has claimed the lives of a number of innocent people this week," it said.

-- Anonymous, March 28, 2001