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Israel fires missles at Arafat headquarters
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Thursday, February 21, 2002
RAMALLAH, West Bank (REUTERS) — Israeli Apache helicopters fired two missiles Thursday at a building close to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s office where he and aides were staying, but they were unharmed, Palestinian officials said.
Officials said the hit building was a few yards from Arafat’s office in his Ramallah headquarters compound.
Witnesses said the missiles struck a one-story guesthouse near Arafat’s office and sleeping quarters, destroying it completely. One of Arafat’s bodyguards was slightly wounded, they said.
This was the second day in a row Israeli helicopters hit Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah.
Wednesday, Israel’s government ordered the army to step up the ferocity and variety of strikes against the Palestinians in retaliation for the killing of six soldiers in the West Bank Tuesday.
Twenty Palestinians have been killed since early Wednesday in fierce Israeli sea, air and land strikes. Most of the Palestinians killed Wednesday were security personnel, but at least four were identified as civilians.
This raised the death toll of Palestinians since they launched protests against Israeli rule in September 2000 to at least 883. The violence also claimed the lives of 273 Israelis.
The Israeli bombardments of Palestinian security installations were among the heaviest since an uprising began. The violence has raised international concern that the conflict could spiral out of control.
Israel reiterated that it had no plans to harm Arafat, under siege at his West Bank headquarters since early December.
But Palestinian officials said that since the Palestinian uprising began, Israel has systematically worked to destroy the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority.
Palestinians call for emergency UN Council meeting
UNITED NATIONS (REUTERS) — Palestinians demanded late Wednesday an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting to condemn Israel for bombarding Gaza City, killing civilians and almost hitting President Yasser Arafat’s office.
Diplomats said they planned private consultations Thursday on the request, which is backed by Yemen, the current head of the Arab group at the United Nations, as well as Syria, the only Arab nation on the 15-member council.
Hussein Hassouna, representing the League of Arab States, said his members wanted an open meeting of the council and said, “We will present a draft resolution.”
“We cannot leave this situation, deteriorating as it is on a daily basis, Israeli action becoming more brutal day after day and the Security Council sitting idle and not doing anything about it,” Hassouna said.
Western diplomats said, however, they did not expect any quick vote on a proposed resolution. In Madrid and Paris, Spain, the president of the European Union, as well as France called on the council Wednesday to discuss the escalating crisis, but made no formal requests.
In asking for the meeting, Marwan Jilani, a Palestinian U.N. observer, said the Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had intensified attacks on Palestinian targets “in a vicious cycle of reprisals and recriminations.”
“We therefore call for an urgent meeting of the Security Council to consider this grave situation and to take immediate action,” he wrote to Mexican Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, this month’s council president.
“Israel, the occupying power, must be held accountable for all the human-rights violations, war crimes and state terrorism it is committing against the Palestinian people,” Jilani said.
Some council members said the Palestinians wanted a vote on a resolution that the United States had vetoed in December and might request a Security Council mission to the region.
The vetoed resolution would have condemned “acts of terror” against Israelis and Palestinians, demanded an end to violence and established a “monitoring mechanism” to bring in observers, which Israel opposes.
Shortly afterward, the same resolution was approved by the 189-nation General Assembly, which has no vetoes. But its resolutions are not legally binding.
Israel attacked Palestinian targets across the West Bank and Gaza Strip from air, land and sea in fierce reprisal raids Wednesday, killing 18 Palestinians.
A deadly Palestinian raid that killed six Israeli soldiers Tuesday night prompted the retaliation by warplanes, tanks, warships and helicopters on Palestinian security facilities.
The bombardments of Palestinian positions were among the heaviest since an uprising against Israeli occupation began in September 2000. A helicopter gunship fired a missile at an intelligence facility in Arafat’s compound in Ramallah, which struck a few yards from where the Palestinian leader sat in his office, Palestinian officials there said.
