Gunfire near Arafat's headquarters

RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- Israelis and Palestinians exchanged gunfire Saturday night near the headquarters of Palestinian leader President Yasser Arafat, and rounds of tank fire were heard in and near the West Bank city.

To the north, about 80 Israeli tanks edged closer to the city limits of Tulkarem, the scene of recent violence during the past week.

Israeli F-16 fighter jets Friday blasted the compound of the Palestinian governor in Tulkarem, killing a policeman, Palestinian sources said. The city was also where a top Fatah member, Raed al-Karmi, died in an explosion Monday.

Palestinians blamed the death of Karmi on Israel. Israeli authorities would neither confirm nor deny involvement in Karmi's death.

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Karmi gained a spot on Israel's most-wanted list after taking responsibility for the deaths last year of two Tel Aviv restaurant owners who were killed in Tulkarem. Israeli authorities have also accused him of being involved in the deaths of eight other Israelis.

Arafat, who met Saturday with a delegation of Italian clergymen, appealed to Europeans and Americans to help end the escalating violence. Israel's latest action started after a Palestinian gunman murdered six Israelis during an ambush at a Bat Mitzvah in the coastal city of Hadera on Tuesday night.

"It's important to act quickly to save the situation in this area, to go back together to create peace," Arafat said. "The situation is critical, and the Israelis have crossed all the red lines."

Israel has called the targeted killing of suspected terrorists self-defense. The Palestinians call the action assassinations.

Early Saturday, Israeli soldiers used explosives in Ramallah to blow up the headquarters of the Voice of Palestine radio service and some Palestinian television studio facilities, eyewitnesses told CNN.

There were no casualties, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Israel has said that the Palestinian Authority uses radio and TV outlets to incite Palestinians against Israelis, but the head of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp. accused Israel of trying to silence them.

The Israeli army surrounded the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation building around 4 a.m. Saturday (9 p.m. Friday EST) and evacuated it, then blew it up around 5:30 a.m.

Eyewitnesses said the Israelis had put dynamite in the studios and gasoline on the roof, where the transmitters were.

The top three floors were destroyed, and hours later smoke still emanated from the building, surrounded by Israeli tanks. Employees tried to salvage equipment from the first floor Saturday morning.

The IDF said it blasted the broadcast facilities in response to an attack Thursday, when a Palestinian gunman opened fire at a bat mitzvah in the coastal town of Hadera, north of Tel Aviv, killing six Israelis.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack and in an interview with Newsweek, President Yasser Arafat said, "We are doing everything we can at the political and security level to exterminate this phenomenon of suicide operations."

He emphasized to the news magazine that as many as 135 leaders and members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been arrested.

On Friday, Israeli tanks surrounded Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah. The Palestinian Authority condemned the action, saying it "will only lead to a serious deterioration and escalation" of the situation in the region."

Twenty Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers moved to within 50 meters (150 feet) of Arafat's offices -- a move that resulted in clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian demonstrators.

One Palestinian was killed and more than 30 others injured, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.