Israel declared an end to its demolition of Yasser Arafat’s West Bank headquarters, maintaining a siege around the building and demanding surrender of all the people inside, but Palestinian defiance intensified.
Palestinian leaders declared a general strike for Monday, appealed to the Arab world for help and called on their people to resist the Israeli operation, which started on Thursday after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a Tel Aviv bus, killing himself and six others.
Israel’s foreign minister disclosed that the Israeli Cabinet voted against a proposal to expel Arafat before sending the army into the compound.
International criticism of Israel increased. The United Nations Security Council was to convene on Monday to discuss the operation. The United States said that the Israeli operation was not helpful to efforts to fight terrorism. European and Arab states demanded flatly that Israel end its siege.
Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said the Security Council must act. ”This is a dangerous and unacceptable situation,” he said.
By the time huge Israeli military bulldozers pulled out of the city-block-sized compound after nightfall on Sunday, only one building stood intact – Arafat’s office, where he and his aides were confined to four rooms.
Water and electricity in the office building were cut for several hours. Palestinians interpreted this as pressure on Arafat, who continued to resist Israeli demands to hand over the people in his office. The Israeli military said the lines were cut by accident as huge bulldozers leveled structures there. Later the lines were repaired, the military said.
In a statement, the Palestinian parliament called on Palestinians to ”show their willingness to resist this escalation,” warning that Israel’s operation might lead to a regional explosion and blaming both Israel and the United States. ”The American administration bears responsibility of blood of our people and of our leadership,” the statement said, because the US government backs Israel.
Meanwhile, the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily reported on Monday that the demolitions were supervised by a 23-year-old woman.
The newspaper ran a large front page picture of the lieutenant ”Talia the Destroyer”, wearing a broad grin.
”From an engineering point of view, it was very easy to destroy the trailers,” the daily quoted her as saying, referring to the temporary structures in Arafat’s compound.
”But the demolition of the buildings was more difficult,” she said. ”They were built out of stone and concrete.”
Near Arafat’s smashed compound, a few hundred Palestinians demonstrated on Sunday against the curfew imposed by the Israeli army on Ramallah and four other Palestinian towns.
As soldiers using loudspeakers ordered them off the streets, the demonstrators chanted back, ”No more curfew!”
Earlier on Sunday, four Palestinians were killed during confrontations between demonstrators and soldiers. A fifth, a 13-year-old boy, died in disputed circumstances.
In Gaza City, thousands marched in front of the Palestinian parliament building. Holding an automatic rifle, Abu Mohammed, a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militia, linked to Arafat’s Fatah, said, ”It is time for all Palestinians to teach the Israelis a lesson and defend Arafat.”
Israel insisted that Arafat was not a target, but demanded the surrender of everyone inside his office, about 200 people. Dore Gold, an adviser to Sharon, said 38 Palestinians had turned themselves in, and ”most of them” were released. Sharon representative Raanan Gissin said terrorists were hiding inside. ”As long as they are not put on trial before their Maker or before a judge, we will not end the siege,” he said.
At first, Israel had demanded surrender of about 20 suspected militants, including the Palestinian intelligence chief, Tawfik Tirawi.
But Arafat was standing firm, said Arab members of the Israeli parliament who tried to visit Arafat but were stopped at a roadblock by Israeli soldiers. One of them, Ahmed Tibi, said he talked to Arafat on the telephone. ”He told me, ‘We won’t turn anyone over to Israel’,” Tibi said.
Israelis were divided over the operation. Some hardline Cabinet Ministers urged Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to expel Arafat.
Interviewed on Sunday on CNN, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres confirmed for the first time that in an emergency session after the suicide bombing, Israel’s Cabinet considered expelling Arafat.
”We don’t want to expel him, we don’t want to kill him, we don’t want to hurt him,” Peres said. ”There was a vote in the government. The majority of the government decided against expulsion.”
Critics charged that the operation was counterproductive.
The demonstrations were evidence that contrary to the Israeli intention of isolating Arafat and neutralising him, the assault boosted his sagging prestige, said Israeli analyst Danny Rubinstein.
Just days earlier, on September 11, the Palestinian parliament had dealt Arafat his worst internal defeat in decades, forcing resignation of his Cabinet. – Sapa-AP