Israel Raids Arafat's Headquarters
Palestinian Speaks of Martyrdom as Army Closes In; Sharon Says Aim Is Not to Kill

By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, March 30, 2002; Page A01

RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 29 -- Backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers, Israeli soldiers knocked down the walls of Yasser Arafat's West Bank compound here today and moved room by room through parts of the two-building office complex where he lives and works. It was the most direct threat against the Palestinian leader in the 18 months since the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict began.

Arafat, 72, was reported by aides to be holed up in a windowless chamber late tonight, a machine pistol at his side, pledging to fight to the finish as Israeli troops advanced methodically through one of the buildings against spotty resistance from security guards. The shooting died out as the night wore on, and the embattled Palestinian leader, in his traditional checkered headdress, gave television interviews from his redoubt, which the Israeli troops approached but had not entered.

"Israel wants me dead, or a prisoner, or to expel me," he told al-Jazeera, the widely viewed Arabic-language satellite news network, in a cell phone interview. "I want to be a martyr, martyr, martyr, martyr."

The dramatic attack in Ramallah, 12 miles north of Jerusalem, launched what Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said will be a broad, sustained Israeli assault on "the foundations of terror" in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Israeli army will "isolate" Arafat but will not kill him or permanently reoccupy Palestinian-run lands in the two territories, Sharon said.

The Israeli campaign, which has come in response to a series of deadly attacks by suicide bombers that persisted even as bullets flew in Ramallah, once again lifted the conflict to a dangerous new level -- and once again eclipsed the Bush administration's intermittent efforts to arrange a cease-fire. Although Israeli troops have frequently punched into Palestinian-run areas -- and temporarily reoccupied towns and refugee camps -- today's assault was the first aimed so directly at the person of the Palestinian leader.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, addressing reporters in Washington, repeated the Israeli leader's assurances that Arafat would not be killed, using almost the same words as Sharon, and declared that the Bush administration's special envoy to the Middle East, retired Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, would continue his attempts to mediate a truce.

"They are going in to find terrorists, to pick up weapons, and it is not their intention to occupy those areas on a long-term basis," Powell said.

Sharon ordered the assault on Arafat's West Bank headquarters after a night-long cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, called to consider responses to a suicide bombing Wednesday night in the coastal city of Netanya, 20 miles north of Tel Aviv, that killed 22 people as they sat down to a Seder at the opening of the Passover holiday.

Sharon said his government had declared Arafat an "enemy" and decided on a large-scale military operation, including a call-up of reserve soldiers. The government acted, he said, because it had sought a cease-fire with Arafat's Palestinian Authority in good faith but "all Israel got in return was terrorism, terrorism and more terrorism."

[Early Saturday morning, Israeli tanks rumbled into the West Bank town of Beit Jala, which borders Bethlehem, the Associated Press reported. Israeli forces did not enter Bethlehem, where Christians are observing Easter weekend, Palestinian security officials said.]

As the Ramallah operation was underway, an 18-year-old Palestinian woman set off a suicide bomb at a crowded Jerusalem supermarket, killing two Israelis and wounding 31. At about the same time, a Palestinian man infiltrated a Jewish settlement in the central Gaza Strip and stabbed to death two elderly men who were on their way to synagogue; Israeli soldiers shot the assailant to death.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, asserted responsibility for the supermarket attack and identified the bomber as Ayat Akhras, a resident of the Deheishe refugee camp near Bethlehem. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Gaza attack.

The blast in Jerusalem occurred just before 2 p.m., when the supermarket, located in Kiryat Hayovel, a working-class Jewish neighborhood, was crowded with weekend shoppers. Eyal Siboni, 28, a building contractor, was standing in the checkout lane when the bomb exploded.

"I looked over and saw the guard running after a woman who tried to rush past him without letting him check the big bag she was carrying," Siboni recalled. "Then there was this terrible, awful bang, and everything seemed to explode. First smoke, then glass and body parts, everywhere."

The blast destroyed the front of the supermarket and sprayed glass and debris throughout the medium-size strip mall where the supermarket is located, as well as the adjacent grassy square. Inside, rescue workers and security forces stepped through the debris of canned goods, meat, fruits and vegetables.

The Israeli police commissioner, Shlomo Aharonishki, said security forces have been on high alert for terrorist attacks within Jerusalem and hundreds of reinforcements have been deployed throughout the city. "There have been numerous terrorist attacks, and there will be more," Aharonishki said. "We are operating under the working assumption that places like this are likely targets for attacks."

Thirty people have been killed and nearly 170 wounded in four terrorist attacks within Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the eight-day Passover festival began two days ago. Four members of a family were killed Thursday night by a Palestinian gunman who broke into their home in the Elon Moreh settlement near the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank.

Sharon announced the offensive with the aim of wiping out what he called a "coalition of terror" in the 20 percent of the West Bank and two-thirds of the Gaza Strip that the Palestinians control. But the offensive's first phase was concentrated on Arafat personally; Sharon has blamed him repeatedly for all acts of terrorism against Israelis. In a recent newspaper interview, Sharon expressed regret that he pledged to President Bush not to harm the Palestinian leader.

"The actions are intended to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure," said Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon. "We will do it also in other cities." The government said that 60 "suspicious" Palestinians were detained in the Ramallah assault, which resulted in the deaths of five Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers.

The streets of Ramallah, the unofficial Palestinian capital, were chewed up by tank treads. The heavy vehicles broke sidewalks and water mains and knocked down garden walls.

An Israeli sniper shot and killed a rifleman in the city's central district, then fired on the men who tried to pull him off the street. Later in the day, the Israelis fired on a jeep marked in red with the letters TV, signifying the presence of journalists. A Palestinian cameraman for the Nilesat broadcasting system was struck in the face. Video footage from inside the car showed bullets penetrating the windshield. The cameraman was hospitalized.

Militant Palestinian organizations threatened to retaliate for the attack on Ramallah. Organizations already committed to terrorism as a tactic were among the would-be avengers of Palestinian victims.

A few Palestinian gunmen roamed Ramallah's otherwise deserted streets and shuttered commercial districts. They carried assault rifles but could make no dent in the heavy armor of Israel's Merkava tanks or troop carriers.

About 50 Palestinians were wounded in the assault, including at least a dozen of Arafat's bodyguards. The impotence of the resistance stood in stark contrast with the high pitch of threatening communiques from a variety of militant Palestinian organizations.

Fatah, the main faction of Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, said "rivers of blood will flow" if Arafat were harmed. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said "every Israeli all over the world will be a target" if Arafat is harmed. The Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas, called on the "Arab masses" to join the Palestinian battle.

The suicide attacks and Israeli offensive made Zinni's efforts to forge a cease-fire seem like ancient history, despite Powell's pledge that they will continue. The tidal wave of violence also all but washed away an Arab League offer made Thursday to have "normal relations" with Israel in return for its withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza and the creation of a Palestinian state.

Instead, the focus was on Arafat and whether he would survive the Israeli onslaught.

The Ramallah complex he uses as his West Bank headquarters sits on top of a hill and is made up of a pair of stone-faced buildings connected by an enclosed pedestrian bridge. Palestinian officials said Israeli forces had cut off the compound's electricity, water and telephone lines. A photo showed Arafat with a machine pistol on his desk.

"We have chosen the path," he told al-Jazeera. "We will either be a martyr or our sons and daughters will raise the flag of Palestine over the churches and mosques of Jerusalem. We are all potential martyrs, the whole Palestinian people."

Then, referring to the Netanya bomber, he added, "Oh God, give me martyrdom like this."

In another interview, with Jordanian television, he said the United States "could have ordered [Sharon] to end the attacks" and asked, "Why are they quiet despite all that is taking place?"

Arafat said he had tried to reach U.S. officials this morning for help, but it was "very difficult" because, due to the time difference, they were asleep.

Researcher Etta Prince-Gibson in Jerusalem contributed to this report.