RAMALLAH, Jan 19: Israeli troops blew up the Voice of Palestine radio station offices early on Saturday in an apparent fresh retribution for a Palestinian shooting attack on Thursday that killed six people.

The rampage at a Jewish birthday party in northern Israel and new Israeli assaults on symbols of Palestinian independence have left a nearly month-old truce drive in tatters despite US and European efforts to quell more than 15 months of bloodshed.

Israeli soldiers, accompanied by tanks and bulldozers, entered the Voice of Palestine’s five-story building in the West Bank city of Ramallah to lay the charges and clear away its occupants and onlookers.

The explosives set the building on fire, sending up a large cloud of smoke and debris into the sky still dark before dawn. Palestinian firemen tried to douse the flames.

Voice of Palestine regular broadcasts had not begun for the day and it was not yet clear whether the Israeli operation would have affected its transmissions.

Jibril Rajoub, Palestinian Preventive Security chief in the West Bank, said the Israeli move showed that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “lacks any political horizon and war is his only option”.

“This stupid Israeli government wants to destroy the symbol of Palestinian sovereignty. But Voice of Palestine radio is not only a building to be destroyed, it is inside the hearts of every Palestinian,” Rajoub said. Israel has accused the Voice of Palestine of transmitting inciteful material during the intifada. Palestinians deny the charge and say Israel is trying to silence its media.

Israel on Friday launched reprisals for the Palestinian attack at a Jewish bat mitzva, or coming-of-age party, in the northern Israeli city of Hadera on Thursday.

The military response began with an air strike on a Palestinian security compound in the West Bank city of Tulkarm and a tightened military grip around Yasser Arafat’s presidential offices in Ramallah.—Reuters