Israel's 'missile message' to Arafat

Israeli helicopter gunships today launched a missile attack on the city of Gaza in response to the weekend's wave of suicide bombings by Palestinian militants.

Ten missiles, launched to send a message to Yasser Arafat, said Israel, struck different sites around the city, destroying aircraft and hangars at the Palestinian leader's helicopter base. There were reports of machineguns being fired back at the gunships. Palestinian officials said Mr Arafat was in the West Bank city of Ramallah at the time.

Palestinian security personnel ran away from the area and civilians fled in panic as eight helicopters hovered over the city. Huge palls of black smoke wafted over the city.

The strike came despite arrests of 110 militantsby Arafat's forces, and a direct call from a senior Palestinian for the US to put pressure on Israel to call it off. Israel's attack came within hours of emergency talks between Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and cabinet ministers to decide on a response to two bombings and a shooting attack that killed 26 people and wounded nearly 200, most of them Israelis.

Palestinian minister Saeb Erekat said he had asked the United States to force Israel to halt the bombardment. Mr Erekat said that Mr Sharon "should know that bloodshed breeds bloodshed".

Mr Erekat, who said the gunships "destroyed the president's helicopters," added that Mr Sharon "wants to destroy the peace process and the Palestinian Authority." Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Mr Sharon, said the attack "was intended to send a very clear signal (that) either Arafat... will fight terrorism or we will have to do it."

Earlier the Palestinian authority asked Israel for a four-day grace period, so that it could act against terror organisations and carry out arrests. Mr Arafat's adviser Mohammed Rashid and Mohammed Dahlan, head of preventative security in the Gaza Strip, called foreign minister Shimon Peres last night to tell him that the Palestinian Authority was beginning to act. "It will be like 1996," they are reported to have told Mr Peres, referring to the strong measures Mr Arafat took against the Islamic movements after a spate of Hamas bombings that year. Mr Peres replied: "How do we know you are serious this time? You only arrest small fry and not the serious terrorists."

The Hamas organisation has already condemned the arrests of Islamic militants by the Palestinian Authority. Hamas said in a statement that the Palestinian Authority was turning into "Israel's keeper."

Hamas political bureau head Musa Abu Marzuk, said in Damascus that it is clear that the Palestinian Authority is surrendering to US and Israeli pressure by using illegal measures to suppress Hamas and Islamic Jihad members.

Mr Sharon has been under intense pressure to launch a tough response to the worst 12 hours of bombings since the intifada began and told US President George Bush: "Israel will act against those who perpetuate terror and those who send them on their missions."

Mr Sharon is to address the nation later today, before convening the full cabinet. Israel Radio, citing Sharon aides, said the cabinet was expected to approve harsh retaliation, but stop short of crushing Arafat's Palestinian Authority.During 14 months of fighting, Israel has repeatedly attacked Palestinian targets, including security installations, with helicopter gunships.

Some Right- wingers in Mr Sharon's cabinet are calling for Mr Arafat's removal and the dismantling of his Palestinian Authority.

Education minister Limor Livnat said: "On a day like this we are allowed to say what is good for the Americans is also good for us. It is not enough to eliminate a terrorism leader; they are doing everything to topple the terror regime. We, too, will have to topple the terror regime."

But others, however, warn that a` harsh response could prove counterproductive. Cabinet minister Matan Vilnai warned that the Palestinian

Authority was "endangering its existence" by not acting against militants. A senior official in Mr Sharon's entourage said ousting Mr Arafat would be one option the cabinet would discuss.

"Arafat is the one responsible for the strategy of terrorism and the coalition of terror that he built. He also finances terrorist organisations," the official said. "Israel is in a war in which Israel stands on one side and on the other stands Arafat, responsible for what is taking place."

Mr Bush urged Mr Arafat to take action, saying: "This is a moment where the advocates for peace in the Middle East must rise up and fight terror. Chairman Arafat must do everything in his power to find those who murdered innocent Israelis, and bring them to justice."

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said today that President Bush "has believed for quite a period of time that Yasser Arafat is capable of doing much more than he has ever done and now the burden is on him even heavier to show it".

Mr Peres is opposed to ousting the Palestinian leader but warned: "Arafat will be judged according to his actions, not his declarations."

Britain, with Russia, Germany, France, Italy and the European Union, demanded Mr Arafat move against groups backing terrorism. immediately after the bombings Israeli troops shot and killed four armed members of Mr Arafat's Fatah movement who had approached an army position near the West Bank city of Jenin.

Tension within Israel is at boiling point."We are at war," said a headline in the Yediot Ahronot daily, accompanied by two rows of photos of the victims of the carnage.

A Yediot survey showed 37 per cent of Israelis want Mr Arafat out, though 32 per cent said Israel must begin accelerated peace talks without waiting for a ceasefire. The government has already tightened its already formidable blockade of Palestinian cities and villages.

Elsewhere, thousands of police officers patrolled the streets.

This latest crisis was sparked when two suicide bombers set off nailfilled bombs on Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda street, a packed area of cafÈs and bars, just before midnight on Saturday. Ten people were killed, mostly teenagers, and 150 wounded.

Shortly afterwards a car bomb went off nearby. Then, at noon yesterday, Maher Habashi, a 21-year-old plumber from the West Bank town of Nablus, boarded a crowded bus in the port city of Haifa and within seconds detonated the explosives strapped to his body.

Thirteen Jewish and Arab passengers and two pedestrians were killed, and about 40 bystanders wounded. Manal Masri, 32, an Arab resident, said: "I saw the driver of the bus, his face and body covered in blood. I heard people screaming in the bus. I will never forget it." Hamas said it had carried out the bombings in retaliation for Israel's killing of a Hamas leader nine days ago and that its men were behind the shooting yesterday of an Israeli driver in the Gaza Strip, when Israeli soldiers killed two gunmen.

Mr Arafat declared a state of emergency in Palestinian areas and his police began rounding up dozens of Islamic militants, including senior Hamas leaders Ismail Abu Shanab and Ismail Haniya. Weapons have been seized and demonstrations banned. Hamas's spiritual leader, Sheikh Hamed Yassin, has been placed under house arrest.

Comment: The challenge for Mr Sharon
Comment: Only way out of this madness
Talk about the attacks