Israel declares Ramallah military zone: 17 dead in suicide bombings; army says: Arafat may be killed ‘accidentally’
TEL AVIV, March 31: The Israeli army on Sunday declared Ramallah a closed military zone and ordered all media to leave the area while Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced that the Jewish state was at war after 17 people were killed in two suicide bombings.
“Ramallah is a closed military area. Journalists have no right to be there. It’s true that if people are there against the law they’ll be arrested,” spokesman Lt-Col Olivier Rafowicz said.
He added the zone covered the entire city.
He accused the Foreign Press Association, which groups international media outlets covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, of being “pro-Palestinian”.
The head of Palestinian intelligence in the West Bank, Tawfiq Tirawi, announced on behalf of Yasser Arafat that the move was a preparation for Israel to escalate its offensive.
“If they don’t let journalists come and go in Ramallah, they are preparing something very dangerous and they don’t want the world to see,” he said, speaking by walkie-talkie from inside the encircled compound.
SIEGE TO CONTINUE: The army also announced that siege on the offices of Yasser Arafat will not change until the wanted men who are hiding inside give themselves up, a senior Israeli general said.
“There are still dozens of wanted people inside. Unless they come out, we will not change our way of treating this building,” Maj-Gen Giora Eiland, head of the army’s planning branch, told reporters.
The Israeli army did not rule out that Arafat, pinned down at his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah by a three-day Israeli army siege, might be killed “accidentally.”
SHARON: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in an address on radio and television said that the Jewish state was at war and branded Yasser Arafat an “enemy of the free world” after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 16 people in the city of Haifa.
But the tough speech was blasted by Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who said the hardline Israeli leader had “closed the door to peace” as the two sides exchanged new volleys of scorn and bitterness.
Speaking from inside his shattered compound, the Palestinian leader repeated he was ready to die and vowed never to surrender.
“The state of Israel is at war,” Sharon said in a brief address to the nation that put the blame fully on Arafat for the spiralling violence.
“The terror is being directed and orchestrated by one person, Yasser Arafat,” Sharon said. “He is the head of a coalition of terror and an enemy of Israel and an enemy of the free world.”
Erakat hit back within minutes of the evening address, saying in Gaza City that Sharon was choking off any hope of a long elusive peace.
“His speech proves to the whole world that he is the number one enemy of peace. He will press on with his military plan to destroy the Palestinian Authority and kill President Arafat,” Erakat said.
“We call on the international community to stop the Israeli terrorism, since the occupation is terrorism.”
SUICIDE BOMBINGS: The tit-for-tat accusations followed a suicide bombing in the Israeli port city of Haifa, when a man walked into a packed restaurant and blew himself up. Sixteen people were killed and more than 30 wounded.
The blast ripped off the roof of the eatery and reduced the inside to rubble. A caller to a Lebanese television station said the armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassem Brigades, was responsible.
Within hours another suicide bomber struck in the Jewish settlement of Efrat, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The 17-year-old bomber was killed and seven people were wounded in the attack claimed by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Palestinian officials earlier said they feared Arafat would be killed after what they said was an Israeli surge into the building that houses his inner offices.
“The situation is really grave and I’m afraid for Yasser Arafat’s life,” Erakat said on CNN. He said the siege would “only bring more Israelis dying”.
Israel denied trying to enter the building, but an army spokesman said the military had been given clear orders to “neutralise” the Palestinian leader.
“We are aware of the fact that Yasser Arafat could be hit accidentally,” Gen Ron Kitrey said in a radio interview. “He who plays with fire can get burned.”
JORDAN TO REVIEW TIES: Arab leaders were meeting to discuss the crisis while Jordan called for international observers and said it would consider reviewing its relations with the Jewish state.
But Israel’s close ally and financial backer, the United States, also put the blame on Arafat for the violence that has left more than 1,650.—AFP
TEL AVIV, March 31: The Israeli army on Sunday declared Ramallah a closed military zone and ordered all media to leave the area while Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced that the Jewish state was at war after 17 people were killed in two suicide bombings.
