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Israel fires into Ramallah, seals Palestinian areas
Killing of soldiers by Palestinian mob sparks sharp Israeli response
RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- Israeli forces fired into Ramallah and Gaza on Thursday, hours after a Palestinian mob killed at least two captured Israeli soldiers held at a Palestinian police station in Ramallah. CNN Producer Sausan Ghosheh reported from inside Ramallah that missiles fired by the Israeli helicopters destroyed the top floor of a police station. She said the ground floor had also been badly damaged, and at least 16 people injured. Outside the ruined police station, angry Palestinians gathered, many saying the attack was a declaration of war, she said.
Ghosheh reported that a police station in another part of the city, as well as a building used as offices by Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, had also been hit. After the initial attack, Israeli helicopters and other aircraft flew overhead as soldiers stationed outside the West Bank town waited in sandbagged bunkers. In Gaza City, CNN's Rula Amin reported that Israeli gunboats patrolled off the coast of the Palestinian city. Witnesses said that helicopters fired in the vicinity of Arafat's headquarters there, but the building was not hit. Immediately after the air strikes, Israeli officials closed all Palestinian-controlled areas, barring, except in extreme emergency, Palestinians from traveling outside their communities. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak called the situation "grave" and canceled all his appointments for the day. Israeli Army Col. Raanan Gissin told CNN Jerusalem Bureau Chief Mike Hanna that the attack on Ramallah was "more than retaliation" for the deaths of the soldiers. "Our purpose and mission is really to deliver a very stern message that these things cannot be tolerated," Gissin said. "Even in a war there is certain convention that can't be violated, and this is a violation of the worst way." Israelis, Palestinians blame each otherGissin said that the mob attack that left the two soldiers dead was unwarranted and unprovoked. "We've been trying to argue with the Palestinians that they should take control of the situation," he said. "But what happened today seems the complete lack of control and unfortunately instigated and supported as we know by some of the Palestinian police." But the Palestinians said that the soldiers were on an undercover mission, in civilian clothes and driving a civilian car, when they were captured. The Israeli army said the men were reservists trying to reach their post when they took a wrong turn. An earlier report that the army had confirmed the men were undercover was in error. Israeli military officials said that two other soldiers were unaccounted for after the attack, but Nabil Abu-Rudeinah, an adviser to Palestinian leader Arafat, said the Palestinians were not aware of any other soldiers. The dead soldiers' bodies have been turned over to Israeli authorities. The incident soured diplomatic efforts to end two weeks of bloody battles between Israeli security forces and Palestinians, who erupted in anger after Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited a bitterly contested religious site in east Jerusalem. Nearly 100 people -- all but about seven of them Palestinians or Israeli-Arabs -- have been killed in the violence, and thousands more wounded. Diplomatic question markU.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who held meetings with Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat over the last two days, said the incident "complicates the issues we are trying to resolve." Annan spoke following a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Emile Lahoud in Beirut, where the U.N. chief was seeking a resolution to the capture of three other Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah fighters near the Lebanon-Israel border. Annan's diplomacy had secured a commitment from both the Israelis and Palestinians for a high-level security meeting to be chaired by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency chief George Tenet. Israeli officials quickly denounced the attack. Government spokesman Nachman Shai said the incident proves that Arafat is angling for all-out war with Israel. "Once Arafat ignited the entire Middle East, now he puts more and more fuel on this situation," Shai told CNN's Jerrold Kessel. "He wants the fire to burn and to be as high as possible ... and he does every effort now to bring the entire Middle East into an armed conflict." Palestinians, however, said their leader was responding to an untenable situation put upon him by Israelis. "The problem is that the Israelis were trying to squeeze Yasser Arafat, both at Camp David and here on the ground in spite of the fact that he is trying his utmost to calm the situation," said Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian political analyst and director of the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center. Disputed detailsIsraelis and Palestinians disagreed on details of the four soldiers' capture as well. Khatib, noting that an average of nearly 10 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces every day since the violence began, said the four Israeli soldiers could not have been in Palestinian-controlled areas by accident." There is a big question about why theses soldiers were there," he said. "It cannot be by mistake because there are checkpoints all over." Rashid Hillal, a correspondent for Palestinian TV and radio, said the soldiers were taken to the police station immediately after their capture. The mob attacked the station when news spread of the soldiers' presence. Palestinian forces were unable to keep the crowd, some armed with guns, away from the second floor where the Israelis were being held, Hillal said. Witnesses said about ten men broke through the Palestinian security forces, and re-emerged several minutes later with bloodied hands. The bodies of the dead Israelis were taken out of the police station and at least one was paraded through the streets. Israeli officials, however, said that the two were taken outside alive and handed over to the mob, where they were killed. No peace in sightThe violence that exploded into the region on September 28 put a serious damper on an already staggering Israeli-Palestinian peace process, casting a harsh light on the issue that is arguably the most contentious to face the two sides. Israelis and Palestinians dispute the final status of Jerusalem, particularly which side will control a portion of east Jerusalem -- claimed by the Palestinians as the capital of their independent state -- that is home to several sacred religious sites. Islamic Palestinians considered that Likud Party chairman Sharon's visit two weeks ago to the site the Jews know as the Temple Mount was insulting. It is the site of the sole remaining section of wall from the ancient Temple that once stood on the site. But Arabs know the site Islam's third holiest spot -- Haram as-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary. Two mosques, Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa, mark the spot from which tradition holds the Prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven. A sticking point in resolving the violence is the makeup of any international commission that would investigate the causes of the crisis and Palestinian charges that the Israelis have employed excessive force in dealing with the situation. Israel has agreed to a U.S.-led fact-finding mission, but has balked at convening an international forum it believes would simply be a vehicle for denouncing the Jewish state. CNN Correspondent Jerrold Kessel, , The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES: Annan claims breakthrough in Mideast diplomacy RELATED SITES: Israel Defense Forces | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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