Pinned inside his Ramallah office by Israeli troops, a defiant Yasser Arafat on Saturday implored world leaders to pressure Israel to end its military campaign against him. Meanwhile, yet another Palestinian suicide bomber eluded unprecedented national security precautions and detonated himself, wounding at least 32 Israelis in Tel Aviv.
Only hours after the United States joined in a UN Security Council vote calling on Israel to withdraw its troops from Palestinian cities, President Bush maintained his insistence that Arafat was chiefly responsible for the deepening Mideast crisis.
“I think Mr. Arafat could have done more three weeks ago and can do more today,” Bush said at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. “I have been disappointed in his unwillingness to go 100 percent for fighting terror.”
A militia with close ties to Arafat’s Fatah movement, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, claimed responsibility for the explosion in a Tel Aviv cafe that killed only the bomber. Of the wounded Israelis, five had serious injuries. It was the third Palestinian suicide attack of the week.
Increasingly nervous Palestinian leaders, confined with Arafat inside several rooms at his shattered West Bank headquarters without water or electricity, announced at one point Saturday night that Israeli forces had given them one hour to open their doors and surrender or face being stormed.
“This step is a plan by [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon against President Arafat’s life,” said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. “This is a very grave step.”
An adviser to Sharon denied the Palestinian claim.
“The whole story of an ultimatum is something Palestinian sources have invented,” said Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin. “As we have said, we are not after Arafat as such.”
However, he said, Israel wanted to “isolate Arafat and take all necessary measures to uproot terrorist organizations that have found refuge there [in his headquarters].”
Israeli security officials believe that among those hiding inside Arafat’s compound is the mastermind of the assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister shot dead by Palestinian militants last October, as well as a man suspected of involvement in an arms shipment intercepted by Israel in January.
Weapons found in compound
The Israeli army displayed a large cache of weapons it said it had found inside the compound, “under the eyes of the chairman of the Palestinian Authority.” The army said the weapons, which included mortar bombs, sniper rifles and grenades, were forbidden in Palestinian-controlled areas under the terms of the Oslo peace accords.
On the second full day of Israel’s renewed military campaign, launched in the wake of the devastating recent Palestinian suicide attacks, Israeli troops and tanks surrounded the West Bank offices of Jibril Rajoub, a top Palestinian security official. Rajoub said the Israelis threatened to shell the building if he failed to hand over wanted militants, but he denied any militants were inside.
The bodies of five Palestinian police were found inside a Ramallah building vacated by Israeli troops hours earlier. Palestinians accused Israel of killing them in cold blood; Israel said they had been shot in a battle in which two Israeli soldiers had been wounded.
More Palestinians detained
Israeli troops continued to round up Palestinians on Saturday, and the military said it had arrested a total of 145 suspected militants during the two-day operation, including more than 60 who were detained Friday in Arafat’s compound. It denied carrying out mass detentions, as reported by some journalists.
Elsewhere, an Israeli force thrust into a Palestinian-held part of the divided West Bank city of Hebron and a tank fired rockets, witnesses said. The army said the incursion was a response to Palestinian gunfire and troops would not stay long.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah fighters struck at Israeli troops in a disputed northern border area, sparking some of the worst clashes there since Hezbollah seized three Israeli soldiers there in October 2000.
Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers patrolled the Palestinian town of Beit Jala, adjacent to Bethlehem, from where Palestinian gunmen had been firing on a nearby Israeli settlement.
Bush told reporters in Texas that he could understand Israel’s need to defend itself but urged the Israeli government to find a path to peace and defuse the crisis in the Middle East. He said his Middle East envoy, Gen. Anthony Zinni, would remain in the region, despite two weeks of failed efforts to broker a cease-fire between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Arafat, in a candlelit interview Saturday with Reuters television, urged world leaders to pressure Israel to call a halt to its military campaign.
“I appeal to the international community to stop this aggression against our people, this military escalation, this killing,” Arafat said.
Envoys from the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union met in Jerusalem in a reflection of world anxiety at the bloody showdown between Sharon and his old Palestinian foe.
Across the Arab world, huge crowds of protesters took to the streets Saturday, chanting “Death to Israel” and denouncing the siege of Palestinian cities.
Protesters marched in the tens of thousands through cities in Iraq, Lebanon, Libya and Yemen. Smaller anti-Israeli demonstrations took place in Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, Syria and Kuwait.
Chicago groups gather for vigil
In Chicago, about 200 people concerned by the escalating violence gathered at Delaware Place and Michigan Avenue for a candlelight vigil Saturday evening, sponsored by the Palestine Solidarity Group and the Palestine Aid Society. Chicago resident M.P. McKenzie said she was frustrated with the turn of events, especially the attack on Arafat’s compound.
“Blaming Arafat for random acts of violence is like blaming Mayor Daley for drive-by shootings,” McKenzie said.
