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Israel Renews Attacks on Palestinian Authority, Following West Bank Ambush
JERUSALEM, Dec. 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli war planes bombed a Gaza City naval police building close to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's offices late Wednesday, after at least 10 Israelis were killed and about 30 others wounded when Palestinian gunmen ambushed an Israeli bus near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank Wednesday.
And in the Gaza Strip, Israeli occupation forces said two Palestinian bombers set off blasts near the Gush Katif settlement. The explosions killed the bombers and lightly wounded four Israelis.
The Israeli daily newspaper, Ha'aretz, reported that the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, a group affiliated with Fatah took responsibility for the bus attack.
The latest outbreaks of violence came just hours after special U.S. peace envoy, retired General Anthony C. Zinni, had reportedly negotiated a 48-hour ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. That truce, now, appears very much in doubt.
Hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened an emergency cabinet meeting following the attacks. Israeli F-16 warplanes reportedly flew over several Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank in preparation for an expected military response.
Sharon's spokesman, Raanan Gissin, vowed that there would be a "quick reaction. No attack will go without a response." He added that the bus ambush "leave us no alternative but to take the necessary steps," which he did not specify.
Israeli authorities said an explosive was set off near the bus which was traveling to the Emmanuel settlement from Tel Aviv. Gunmen then opened fire, police said. Three cars following the bus were also fired on during the incident.
"There was a huge explosion in the back of the bus...all the windows of the back of the bus were destroyed...the bus continued slowly about 100 meters [yards] and people lay on the floor." said one of the passengers on the bus.
Ambulance officials said when they arrived, they were fired on.
Israel blamed the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) for the attack.
The Palestinian Authority immediately condemned both attacks, but White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said there is more the Palestinian Authority could do to prevent attacks against Israelis.
In response, a statement from the P.A. announced that it would immediately close all Hamas and Islamic Jihad offices immediately.
"[Arafat] has made several statements which are positive statements," said Fleischer. "It is a difficult situation for one and all, but that does not change the responsibility on a leader of a would-be state to demonstrate that he is capable to demonstrating the leadership required to end the violence."
"It's very hard to begin a political dialogue when people are still being killed in the streets and wounded in the streets on an almost regular basis, and that's why the president has focused so strongly in calling Arafat to reduce the violence, to take responsibility," said Fleischer.
Asked whether Washington would condemn recent Israeli military action against Palestinian targets, the spokesman reiterated that U.S. President George W. Bush believes that "Israel has a right to defend herself."
Last week, Deputy State Department spokesman Phil Reeker refused to comment on whether Palestinians had a right to defend themselves against Israeli aggression and illegal occupation under repeated questioning by IslamOnline.
Meanwhile, the governor's office in the West Bank town of Jenin said that at around 3:20 p.m. local time on Wednesday two Israeli tanks and jeeps went one kilometer into Jenin toward the governor's compound, saying the Israeli army fired machine guns, wounding one Palestinian national security guard. They then retreated to the outskirts of town after approximately a half hour.
Israel said Palestinians opened fire at Israeli occupation forces east of Jenin. They said the forces moved forward towards Jenin, returned fire and retreated.
Wednesday evening, Israeli warplanes flew over the Palestinian cities of Nablus and Ramallah. Palestinian security positions have been abandoned in Ramallah in anticipation of Israeli retaliatory strikes, security sources said.
Jewish settlers in the southern Gaza Strip settlement bloc want their government to declare that "we are at war," a spokeswoman said.
"We are waiting for our government to declare that we are at war, and I am sure it will know how it has to act," Debbie Rosen, a spokeswoman for the Gush Katif settlement bloc, told AFP by telephone.
Meanwhile, the Israeli prime minister's office said Wednesday it would continue its policy of assassinating Palestinian political activists, of which it has already killed at least 70 under its internationally criticized policy of liquidation.
Palestinian legislator and Arab League spokesperson Hanan Ashrawi said that such a decision was "certainly ominous" in light of intense efforts by the United States and the European Union to bring about a real ceasefire in the region.
"It's very clear, that while they want to shell and pound and kill and destroy Palestinian people and their institutions with total impunity, that putting enormous pressure on the Palestinians, on their victims, to calm things down and not to respond and not to react," Ashrawi charged.
Israeli leaders, however, have said they have had to take such action because of what they say has been repeated failures by the Palestinian Authority to arrest "terrorists".
Israel launched a series of air raids against Palestinian Authority targets on December 3 following a wave of bombings in Jerusalem and Haifa that killed 26 Israelis and wounded 200 others.
Israel then launched a series of punishing attacks against Palestinian Authority installations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It also demanded that the P.A. arrest members of the resistance groups Islamic Jihad, the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, and Arafat's own Fatah party.
The Palestinian Authority said they have arrested more than 100 in a crackdown on the movements, but Israel argued that many of those taken into custody were minor activists, not planners of attacks.
The P.A. says more than 180 suspects have been detained, including 17 on a list of 33 names of wanted individuals submitted by the United States.
Zinni, who arrived in the region three weeks ago, has attempted to broker a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
In truce talks Tuesday, Zinni requested that Israel refrain from assassinating suspected resistance activists and from shelling Palestinian Authority targets, said a Palestinian security official.
The Palestinians were asked to stop mortar fire and round up more resistance activists, the security official said.
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