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Israel Blasts Prison, Guardhouse In Arafat Compound
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| Arafat, in his beseiged compound, surrounded by peace
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RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Unmindful of repeated calls from the U.S. to withdraw from reoccupied Palestinian territories, Israeli Prime Minister’s troops laying siege to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Ramallah offices Tuesday set off an explosion in a prison inside the Palestinian leader's compound.
"At 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) the Israeli occupation army set off a very powerful explosion inside the prison," a statement from the Palestinian leadership said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Earlier in the afternoon they destroyed the building of Yasser Arafat's Force 17 guards, also with explosives," it added.
A powerful explosion was heard in a building next door to the besieged headquarters Tuesday evening, officials inside the Palestinian leader's office told AFP by telephone.
It came hours after the officials and Ramallah residents living near the surrounded compound reported a less forceful explosion that appeared to have come from the Force 17 building, located some 20 meters (yards) from the office where Arafat is penned up with aides, security guards and international activists acting as a "human shield" for the Palestinian leader.
An Israeli army spokesman claimed merely that troops "neutralized in a controlled explosion six grenades found by soldiers within the compound.
Earlier, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Affairs William Burns said the U.S. wanted Israel to withdraw from all autonomous Palestinian zones that it is now occupying, , quoted by a U.S. diplomat.
During a one-hour meeting with Ariel Sharon, Burns said Washington wants "an immediate (Israeli) withdrawal from all the zones" now reoccupied, principally the West Bank town of Bethlehem and the area around the Ramallah headquarters of Arafat.
Sharon told Burns the army would withdraw at the "appropriate time" after completing its task, the source said.
Israeli forces occupied several West Bank cities, including Bethlehem and Ramallah, following a March 29 invasion that caused massacres and atrocities in Jenin, Nablus and elsewhere in the Palestinian territories.
In another development, the Palestinian Authority (PA) ordered all local Palestinian administrations Tuesday to break off contacts with Israel to ward off possible Israeli bids to circumvent the power base of Arafat.
"Palestinian ministries and official institutions ... are the only parties authorized to govern and administer relations on all fronts, regarding institutions and individuals," the PA said in a statement.
It added that the order was issued " to abort the temporary Israeli occupation authorities from spreading chaos and creating a void that would facilitate the permanent return of the occupation."
Analysts said Sharon hoped to develop working relations with local West Bank and Gaza Strip councils to undermine Arafat's authority among Palestinians.
Arafat has since December been kept under house arrest in his West Bank Headquarters in Ramallah, and Palestinian officials accused Israelis of jamming Arafat's mobile phones to isolate him from the world outside.
Sharon's three-week military incursion into the West Bank destroyed much of the PA's civilian and security infrastructure, making it difficult for the self-governing body to provide any basic services to Palestinians.
The PA statement Tuesday challenged Sharon's strategy by making it illegal for Palestinian administrations to keep in contact with Israeli civilian administration appointees for the West Bank and Gaza.
"We call on the Palestinian people in the cities, towns, and refugee camps to show the highest level of discipline and adherence to orders and instructions from the Palestinian National Authorities ministries," it said.
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