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GAZA, Jan 12: Israel fired missiles at a Palestinian naval police dock in the Gaza Strip on Saturday in “retaliation” for a deadly Palestinian attack on Israeli soldiers and an arms smuggling attempt it blamed on Yasser Arafat.
The Israeli army said it had targeted two vessels in the pre-dawn attack and a naval police post. Witnesses said a fuel depot and maintenance wharf were also hit.
Witnesses said missiles had been fired from an Israeli warship at two ships in the naval police dock.
A Palestinian statement identified one, a fishing trawler now listing on its side, as the Gindellia, which had been used once by Arafat for an official function. Israel said it had been crewed by two officials found aboard the captured arms ship.
Hours earlier, the Palestinian Authority said it had detained three of its own security officers for questioning over the munitions ship, but maintained it was not involved itself.
The United States welcomed the arrests but still demanded an explanation from Arafat. Israel treated the arrests with scepticism, questioning whether any of the men were behind bars.
“We’ll have to see very concrete evidence before we believe that they (the Palestinian Authority) have actually taken any steps,” Israeli spokesman Arie Mekel said.
“Since the involvement of the PA in terror only deepens, we have no choice but to continue in our defensive activities.”
Palestinian leaders, who have described Israeli reprisals as an incitement to further violence, condemned the latest action.
“The Israeli government has crossed all the red lines in its war of aggression against our people,” the Palestinian Authority said in a statement that condemned the missile strikes and the bulldozing of homes in southern Gaza.
The Israeli army said it had demolished an empty house hiding a tunnel used to smuggle arms from Egypt to the border town of Rafah. Palestinian security sources said a tank shell had hit a Rafah house, wounding eight people.
HAMAS THREATENS RESPONSE: Hamas, which claimed killing dozens of Israelis in a wave of suicide bombings late last year, threatened to hit back.
“This horrible terrorist action will not go unpunished and we assert our right to defend our people against the Zionist aggression and occupation,” Hamas said in a statement.
Egypt, a sponsor of efforts to secure lasting peace, warned Israel not to escalate tensions while demanding seven days of absolute calm on the Palestinian side before it will consider implementing a US-backed truce-to-talks plan.
“Violence leads to violence,” President Hosni Mubarak told an Egyptian weekly magazine. “You cannot ask one side to stop violence and leave the other to practise violence as it wishes.”
After dark on Friday, Israeli army bulldozers continued work on ripping up the runway at Gaza’s international airport — a symbol of Palestinian aspirations to statehood. The army said it aimed to “decommission” the damaged tarmac strip.
A US official described Friday’s arrests, demanded by Secretary of State Colin Powell as well as Israel, as a “step in a positive direction”. He said Arafat now had to “dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism” and stop future smuggling attempts.
Although the ship seizure clouded US envoy Anthony Zinni’s latest truce mission, he left the region last Sunday saying the longest lull in violence in 15 months was a source of optimism.—Reuters
