Israel Breaks All Contact With Arafat

Voice of America, December 13, 2001

Israel has severed all contact with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and launched airstrikes after a Palestinian ambush killed 10 Israeli settlers in the West Bank Wednesday.

Since the air strikes, Israeli forces have entered the main Palestinian city of Ramallah at three points and also pushed into part of Gaza City. Israeli forces Wednesday demolished the main Palestinian radio and television station in Ramallah. Israeli tanks are reported to be just 200 meters from Mr. Arafat's headquarters in the city.

The Israeli security cabinet said earlier that as far as Israel is concerned, Mr. Arafat is no longer relevant and it would have no contact with him. An Israeli statement held Mr. Arafat responsible for Palestinian terrorism and said that from now on, Israel will act on its own to root out Palestinian militants and dismantle their organizations. It said Israeli forces will deploy around Palestinian cities to carry out arrests and confiscate weapons.

Spokesmen for Mr. Arafat called the Israeli moves a declaration of war. Israeli warplanes and helicopters raided Palestinian security targets overnight, leaving about 40 Palestinians wounded in Gaza. Palestinian medical sources say one woman died from shock in Gaza and a Palestinian policeman was killed in Ramallah.

The Islamic militant group Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsiblity for Wednesday's ambush of a settlers' bus in the West Bank. At about the same time in the Gaza Strip, two Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up near the Jewish settlement bloc of Gush Katif, wounding several settlers.

Mr. Arafat responded to the attacks by ordering the shut down of all offices and institutions run by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

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