Jerusalem | Thursday
THE Israeli army continued to pound the Palestinians with new air and ground attacks early on Thursday amid growing international concern that violence was spinning out of control in the Middle East and rare US criticism of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s policies.
One Palestinian was killed and three others injured by a rocket from a helicopter gunship as Israeli tanks rolled in force into the Palestinian-controlled territory of Tulkarem in the north-west of the West Bank overnight, Palestinian security sources said. Around 50 tanks and armoured vehicles had entered the town, with some of the units surrounding the refugee camp of Nur el Chams, where the Palestinian was killed.
Israeli F-16 fighter jets then attacked the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s force of 17 personal guard in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Palestinian security sources said.
They said at least two missiles had hit the building, which had already been attacked the evening before. There was no immediate information on casualties.
The unrelenting attacks bode for a continuing spiral of retaliatory violence in the Middle East after a day of bloodshed on Wednesday when 11 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed.
Late on Wednesday Israeli helicopter gunships had rocketed a building next door to the Ramallah offices of Arafat as he was meeting EU Middle East envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos.
Worried world leaders, wondering where the blood-letting would end, lined up on Wednesday to urge Israelis and Palestinians to step back from the conflict.
In Washington late on Wednesday US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sharon should ”take a hard look at his policies and see whether they will work” while also demanding more action from Arafat against Islamic extremists.
”If you declare war against the Palestinians and think you can solve the problem by seeing how many Palestinians you can kill, I don’t know that that leads us anywhere,” Powell said.
Nearly 100 people have been killed in the past week alone and almost 1 400 since the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, broke out in September 2000.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan bluntly told Israeli and Palestinian leaders that history would judge them harshly for what he called the appalling carnage inflicted on their peoples. Saying the ”situation has clearly got completely out of hand”, Annan warned Sharon and Arafat to steer their people away from bloodshed.
Syria also sounded alarm bells Wednesday, warning of an ”explosive” Middle East, and a top Palestinian official said it had become a ”moral obligation” for the world to intervene and put an end to Israeli ”state terrorism”.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara warned in Iran that the ”situation in the region is explosive” and accused Israel of not wanting peace ”by rejecting the Saudi peace plan even before knowing its content”.
On Tuesday, Syria came out in favour of a Saudi land-for-peace initiative, a move which won a welcome Wednesday from US President George Bush.
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz has proposed normalising Arab ties with Israel in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab land.
Against the talk in favour of peace, concern continued to be expressed over the Israeli military escalation and statements by Sharon Monday that ”we are waging a real war against a cruel and bloodthirsty enemy”.
The Israeli government is categorically opposed to a pull-back to the 1967 borders, but has nevertheless expressed interest in the Saudi land-for-peace proposal. – Sapa