Israel unleashes helicopter attack on offices of Arafat’s Fatah movement

Mark Lavie

Monday, Oct. 30, 2000 | 4:30 a.m.

JERUSALEM - In one of the most intense Israeli assaults in a month of fighting, attack helicopters unleashed missile attacks Monday night on offices of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, strikes meant to retaliate for the killings of two Israelis.

Israel fired warnings to clear the four offices in the West Bank and Gaza Strip before firing missiles, Israel television said. The missiles set off fires, but there were no immediate reports of injuries.

The two killings were the first Israeli deaths in and around Jerusalem since the violence began last month. At least 45 Palestinians were wounded Monday.

"I don't know what the Israelis are trying to achieve through this language," Palestinian spokesman Saeb Erekat told army radio. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak "said that violence will not be rewarded or achieve anything. The prime minister needs to listen to himself."

Earlier in the day, Barak opened the winter session of parliament and won a temporary reprieve for his unstable, minority government, warning Palestinians there would "be no reward for violence."

The Israeli military said it zeroed in on posts belonging to Arafat's bodyguards, known as Force 17, and his paramilitary organization, called the Tanzim. "The army won't let civilians, communities and soldiers be struck," the military said, apparently referring to the two Israelis killed.

Ephraim Sneh, Israel's deputy defense minister, described the operation as a "measured response."

"There's almost no limit to what we can do," he said in a television interview.

In parliament, Barak's coalition appeared safe from collapse for at least the next few weeks. The ultra-Orthodox Shas party, Israel's third-largest, said it would support him for the next month, and Ariel Sharon, the hawkish leader of the opposition Likud party, told parliament he still hadn't given up on the idea of joining an emergency coalition with Barak's government.

However, the conflict with the Palestinians remained on the boil, and Arafat gave no sign of ordering an end to the street confrontations.

In Gaza on Monday, he declared, "Until Jerusalem, until Jerusalem, until Jerusalem, the capital of our independent Palestinian state."

In his speech to parliament, Barak warned Arafat that he "would gain nothing through violence."

"Neither will you," shouted Issam Mahoul, one of 10 Arab lawmakers in the legislature, all of them angry over the deaths of Israeli Arab citizens during recent riots. Mahoul and other Arab legislators heckled Barak and Sharon during their speeches.

Just hours before parliament convened, an assailant, apparently a Palestinian, opened fire at point-blank range on two Israeli guards at the National Insurance Institute office in an Arab section of east Jerusalem. One was killed and the other critically wounded.

The shooting followed another killing on Jerusalem's southern fringe. Palestinians found the body of an Israeli who had been missing for two days from Gilo, a Jewish neighborhood that has come under frequent gunfire from the nearby Palestinian town of Beit Jalla.

Palestinian authorities returned the body to Israeli authorities, who identified the victim as Amos Makhluf, 30. Police said he was stabbed to death after he was tied up. The Arabic words "Allahu Akbar" - God is great - were carved into his back with a knife, Israeli television reported.

Late Monday, the Israeli helicopter assault began. The helicopters fired missiles on Fatah headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah and on offices in Nablus, touching off a fire, residents said. In Gaza, helicopters fired at Fatah offices in Khan Yunis and Rafah, near the border with Egypt, witnesses and the Voice of Palestine radio reported.

The Israeli army confirmed the attacks, but did not provide details. Israeli television said the attacks were retaliation for the Israeli deaths.

On Oct. 12, Israeli helicopters also carried out missile attacks on Palestinian targets, including Arafat's residential compound, shortly after two Israeli reserve soldiers were killed and mutilated by a frenzied mob in Ramallah.

Meanwhile, Palestinian brothers Bilal and Hilal Abu Salah, 20 and 19 years old, were buried side by side in an emotional funeral Monday, a day after they were shot dead within hours of each other in a clash outside the West Bank city of Jenin.

"What is needed now is to stop the Israeli aggression before there are any talks about reviving the peace process," said Nabil Aburdeneh, an adviser to Arafat.

In 33 days of violence, 143 people have been killed, most of them Palestinians.

In the Knesset, Israel's parliament, Barak said he would work for peace, but charged that the Palestinians had failed to keep agreements to stop the violence.

He said the Palestinians missed an opportunity at the July summit with President Clinton at the Camp David presidential retreat, when Clinton made "far-reaching proposals" to solve the conflict. Arafat "failed the test," Barak said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami will meet with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Washington on Wednesday.

Clinton talked to Barak for 35 minutes by telephone Sunday night, said White House spokesman Jake Siewert. Clinton also talked to Arafat Sunday.

Barak aide Gilead Sher said a time-out in the peace talks declared by Barak because of the riots is almost over, and decisions on the next step will be made public soon.

Most of Barak's coalition partners left the government over the concessions he offered the Palestinians at the Camp David summit. Barak now has only 30 of the 120 Knesset members in his coalition.