Israel on Friday declared Yasser Arafat an enemy, sent troops into his West Bank compound and called up army reserves for an extended military operation in the Palestinian areas - an unprecedented response to Palestinian terror attacks that killed 27 civilians in three days.
In a news conference after an all-night emergency Cabinet session, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel had reached out to the Palestinians in peace, but all it "got in return was terrorism, terrorism and more terrorism."
Israeli tanks shelled Arafat's walled compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah, including the building where the Palestinian leader is staying. Troops exchanged fire with his security guards, wounding 13, and demanded over loudspeakers that all armed men in the compound surrender. A building next to Arafat's office was on fire. Arafat was not harmed in the attack, his aides said.
The Israeli invasion seemed to rule out any immediate hopes that US envoy Anthony Zinni will be able to arrange for a truce. Zinni and the US officials in the region were not immediately available for comment.
The raid of the compound was the closest Israeli forces have come to the Palestinian leader in 18 months of fighting. In earlier sanctions, Israel had confined Arafat to the headquarters, barring him from traveling.
Sharon announced in Jerusalem that Israel now considered Arafat an enemy and that he would be completely isolated "at this stage." Sharon did not explain what the declaration would mean in practical terms, but left open the possibility that the Palestinian leader could be expelled at a later time, as many Israeli Cabinet ministers have demanded.
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that no Palestinian engaged in terror activity against Israel was immune from Israeli reprisals. Asked whether that also applied to Arafat, the defense minister said the Palestinian leader would not be harmed physically.
Cabinet ministers approved an extended, large-scale military operation that would be carried out in stages. In a first stage, Israeli forces entered Ramallah, even as the ministers were meeting.
The Israeli action comes a day after an Arab summit in Beirut that called for Arab states to normalize relations with Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from lands captured in the 1967 Mideast War.
Earlier this month, the Israeli military had carried out an extensive operation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, sending 20,000 soldiers into towns, villages and refugee camps in a hunt for Palestinian militants. That operation was the biggest since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
The Cabinet decided early Friday to call up reserves, indicating that the military strike getting under way would be even more massive than the previous raids.
Sharon blamed Arafat personally for three bloody attacks in three days - a suicide bombing that killed 21 guests at a Passover dinner Wednesday night and attacks on two Jewish settlements, one Thursday and one early Friday, in which six Israelis died.
"All this happens in a period when Israel's hand was stretched out in peace," Sharon said. Referring to the US truce effort, he said Israel was prepared to do everything it could for a cease-fire, "but all Israel got in return was terrorism, terrorism and more terrorism."
Sharon did not say how many reserves would be called up. Ben-Eliezer said there was no intention to capture territory; rather, "to fight against the terrorist infrastructure."
In the Israeli assault on Arafat's headquarters, tanks fired shells at the walls of the compound, and ground forces entered the complex of buildings, said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.
The minister said tanks shot at the building where Arafat is staying. A fire broke out and 13 of Arafat's security guards were wounded, the minister said. He said Israeli snipers were on the rooftops of buildings surrounding Arafat's office. No one was allowed to enter or leave the compound.
Arafat was unharmed, Abed Rabbo said.
"There is a need now for a wide and immediate Arab, European and international intervention," Abed Rabbo said.
Arafat said Thursday he was ready for an immediate, unconditional cease-fire, but he stopped short of formally declaring a cease-fire.
Speaking at a news conference in Ramallah, he said the Palestinians had informed Zinni of "our readiness for an immediate implementation of the (US truce) plan without any conditions." The Palestinians have been holding out for some changes, while Israel accepted Zinni's bridging proposals reluctantly.
Zinni has been attempting to broker a truce for the past two weeks, but the sides have been at odds on how to implement the US plan that they both endorse in principle.
Israel's response to Arafat's declaration was cool.
"The increase in terrorist activity, in terror actions, one man stands behind it - that's Arafat," Sharon said. "Because the Palestinian Authority has not taken even the smallest step against this activity, I decided that the Cabinet would convene this evening. It needs to make some decisions."
The Wednesday night suicide bombing in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya was seen by many Israelis as a turning point. "They attacked innocent Israelis on one of the most sacred nights to Jewish people, Passover," said Gideon Meir, an Israeli government spokesman.
The explosion killed 21 diners in a hotel banquet hall where 250 guests were gathered for a Passover Seder, the ritual meal ushering in the start of the Jewish holiday. More than 130 guests were wounded.
On Thursday, an Islamic militant entered the Jewish settlement of Elon Moreh, killing four residents in a shooting attack. Early Friday, a Palestinian infiltrated the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip, stabbing to death two residents.
The suicide bombing in Netanya was the deadliest Palestinian attack since 22 young people were killed when a Hamas suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to a Tel Aviv disco last June.
(China Daily March 29, 2002)
