The Israeli government also barred Arafat from travelling outside Ramallah, where he has been holed up since last week
Helicopter gunships fired missiles at a Palestinian Authority (PA) building in Ramallah, at an office of Arafat’s Fatah organization in Jenin in the West Bank and at security targets in Gaza.
The resumption of a fierce air assault that has included bombing raids by F-16 warplanes was part of a new cycle of violence which threatens to demolish US envoy Anthony Zinni’s mission to restore calm after nearly 15 months of conflict.
“We are going to have now a sustained, prolonged military operation with the purpose... of doing what Arafat promised to do but failed to do,” Israeli government spokesman Raanan Gissin said.
A Palestinian was killed in an air raid on the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday night, and two other people, including a 13-year-old boy, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian officials said.
Pope John Paul condemned violence by both Israelis and Palestinians, saying people were being crushed by “two different extremisms” that were disfiguring the face of the Holy Land.
Israeli forces advanced to within 100 metres of Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah after Israel, which has long ruled out negotiations under fire, declared the Palestinian leader irrelevant.
“Arafat is no longer relevant as far as Israel is concerned and there will be no more contact with him,” Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s cabinet said after an emergency meeting.
Israeli Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit told a news conference: “We have no intention of physically harming Arafat.”
Despite Israel’s decision to sever contacts with Arafat, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns said the Palestinian leader remained a partner in Washington’s efforts to end Israeli-Palestinian violence.
“We consider President Arafat the leader of the Palestinian people and will continue to work with the Palestinian leadership as it must make very difficult choices involved in moving against those extremist groups that threaten the interests of the Palestinian people,” Burns said in Damascus.
The Palestinian Authority said Israel’s actions, which included attacks that destroyed Voice of Palestine radio’s transmission facilities, were a declaration of war.—Reuters