Ramallah | Saturday
YASSER Arafat was holed up in a besieged building in the ruins of his Ramallah compound for a second day on Saturday as gun battles between Israeli forces and Palestinian gunmen raged on amid international efforts to ease the escalating crisis.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution early Saturday calling for Israel to withdraw from Palestinian cities, including Ramallah, and on both Israel and the Palestinians to move ”immediately” toward a ceasefire.
The Israeli army halted its whirlwind advance and settled down to what appeared to be a long siege after having battled up to the veteran Palestinian leader’s doorstep in vicious fighting that left seven Palestinians and two Israelis dead.
In the meantime, army bulldozers continued levelling Arafat’s huge compound – already scarred by a day of battle and the advance of about 20 tanks and armoured troop carriers.
The three-storey building where Arafat was pinned down was without water and power, with phone lines cut and mobile phones – the defenders’ last line of contact with outside world – running out of batteries, officials said.
Huweida Aras, a member of the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees, said the last phone contact was with a US volunteer paramedic who was stranded inside the complex. The paramedic, Adam Shapiro, had reported that the building was lit only with candles overnight.
Aras said the people were desperately calling for medical supplies, with several wounded and at least one person having suffered a heart attack.
In the town itself, heavy machine gun fire ripped through the deserted streets as Israeli forces streamed into the area on Friday morning and battled it out with Palestinian security forces barricaded in office buildings.
The fighting died down later in the morning, while Israeli forces rounded up security members and young men thought to be involved in the resistance.
In the central al-Manara Square, a huge Merkava tank dominated the crossroads as Israeli troops spreadeagled young men on the ground.
Nearby, a six-floor building was in flames, sending up thick smoke into the air, already cloudy after a night of heavy thunderstorms.
A Palestinian security official said that at least 10 of his colleagues were in the building, surrounded by troops demanding they surrender.
In the distance, automatic rifle fire crackled and the dull thud of an exploding grenade shook the air.
In a narrow street near al-Manara square, Israeli troops covered by tanks, searched buildings and arrested more Palestinians. Around 20 walked out of an apartment block, hands in the air before being handcuffed and marched off to an unknown destination.
Another security officer said witnesses had reported searches in houses in southern Ramallah overnight, with Israelis arresting people and crushing cars with their tanks.
With the danger of shooting in the streets, people were afraid to venture out and medical officials said ambulances had difficulty ferrying the injured to hospital.
No exact numbers of injured were available, but medics said five people were killed and more than 25 injured, although Arafat put the figures at seven dead and more than 40 hurt.
Two Israeli soliders, an officer and a master sergeant, were also killed – one in the storming of a building in Arafat’s compound.
On Saturday, dozens of tanks and armoured personnel carriers were deployed across Ramallah, just 10 kilometres north of Jerusalem, dominating the entire town.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Friday branded Arafat an enemy after a particulary bloody suicide bombing that killed 22 people celebrating the Passover feast in a hotel on Wednesday.
He said he was mobilising 20 000 reservists and would ”isolate Arafat” and dismantle his ”coalition of terror” after the Palestinians failed to stem the flow of anti-Israeli attacks.
His campaign extended late Friday to Beit Jala, a Palestinian town on the edge of Bethlehem which is often used as a firing platform by Palestinian gunmen targeting the Jewish settlement of Gilo on the southern flank of Jerusalem.
Israeli tanks stormed into Beit Jala, witnesses said, although no shots were fired as the armour rolled into Beit Jala.- Sapa-AFP