Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: Sharon prepara la mattanza finale

Israel cuts off contact with Arafat
December 13, 2001 Posted: 12:07 AM EST (0507 GMT)
Body bags lie near the bus attacked by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank.
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GAZA (CNN) -- The Israeli Cabinet cut off contact with Palestinian Authority
President Yasser Arafat Thursday, saying it holds him directly responsible
for an ambush of a bus in the West Bank Wednesday that killed 10 and injured
30 others.
"Chairman Arafat has made himself irrelevant as far as Israel is concerned,
and therefore no contacts will be maintained with him," the Cabinet said in
a statement early Thursday.
The Cabinet said Israel would send its own troops to the West Bank and Gaza
to arrest suspected terrorists and confiscate weapons.
The statement followed Israeli airstrikes on Palestinian targets in Gaza and
the West Bank late Wednesday in retaliation for the ambush of the bus by
Palestinian gunmen.
Israeli authorities said the bus was traveling to the Immanuel settlement
from Tel Aviv when an explosive was set off near it. At that point, police
said, gunmen opened fire. Three cars following the bus were also fired on.
Ambulance officials said when their workers arrived, they were fired on as
well. In the ensuing gun battle one of the gunmen was killed, according to
Palestinian security sources. He was identified as Assem Rihan, 21, a member
of the militant group Hamas, the Palestinian sources said.
In a separate incident in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said two suicide
bombers set off blasts near the Gush Katif settlement. The explosions killed
the bombers and lightly wounded four Israelis. Mortar bombs also were fired
at a car north of the settlement but no one was hurt, the IDF said.
In the airstrikes, Israeli jets dropped at least six bombs near Arafat's
compound in Gaza City.
The IDF said the planes hit an airport radar station, a Force 17 compound in
Ansar and the Palestinian naval police base, the latter two in northern
Gaza. No casualties were reported. Force 17 is Arafat's personal guard.
In the West Bank, the IDF said F-16s bombed the Palestinian Authority
Science Committee building in Nablus. In Ramallah, two missiles hit a radio
tower at Palestinian Radio and one missile hit a house in al-Amari refugee
camp.
In the wake of the bus ambush, Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil abu
Rudeineh told CNN Wednesday it will close all offices and institutions of
Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Hamas, an Islamic fundamentalist group, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a
militant group dedicated to the creation of an Islamic Palestinian state and
the destruction of Israel, both claimed responsibility for attacks during
the wave of recent suicide bombings
The U.S. State Department encouraged the Palestinian Authority to move
against the offices of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but officials said Arafat
had more work to do.
"It's absolutely imperative that Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian
Authority act immediately, undertake all possible measures to pursue and
apprehend those responsible for these horrific actions, and ensure that the
organizations responsible are unable to commit further terror," said State
Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
An explosion in Gaza City follows Israeli airstrikes Wednesay night.
Wednesday's violence was the latest in a cycle of attack and retaliation
that began when Palestinian suicide bombers killed 25 Israelis in Jerusalem
and Haifa the weekend of December 1-2.
Israel has responded to a spate of mortar attacks and terrorist bombings
with airstrikes against the Palestinian Authority and other targets in the
West Bank and Gaza.
The Palestinian Authority issued a statement late Wednesday condemning what
it called "military operations" on the bus and the two suicide bombings.
Ra'anan Gissin, an Israeli government spokesman, said the latest attacks
"leave us no alternative but to take the necessary steps." He said there
would be "quick reaction. No attack will go without a response."
Asked about reports that U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni had negotiated
a 48-hour truce between Israelis and Palestinians, Gissin said Israel was
not violating the agreement.
In the West Bank, the governor's office in Jenin said that at around 3:20
p.m. local time Wednesday two Israeli tanks and jeeps went 1 kilometer into
Jenin toward the governor's compound.
A wounded man is treated in Gaza City following Israeli airstrikes.
The governor's office said Israeli soldiers fired machine guns, wounding one
Palestinian national security guard moderately. The soldiers retreated to
the outskirts of the town after about 30 minutes, the governor's office
said.
The IDF said Palestinians opened fire toward Israeli soldiers east of Jenin.
They said the troops moved toward Jenin, returned fire and retreated.
Sharon's office said Wednesday it would continue the targeted killings of
terrorists on their way to carry out attacks. It also said Israel would
respond to every terror act.
Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi said such a decision was "certainly
ominous" in light of intense efforts by the United States and the European
Union to bring about a cease-fire in the region.
-- CNN Correspondent Matthew Chance contributed to this report.

 ha scritto nel messaggio
news:IF1S7.758$7%3.1...@twister1.libero.it...
Fede, stai in campana :-)))

 
cuttotuttoilresto
mi pare ottuso continuare a pensare che la colpa ricada esclusivamente su
sharon.
Andrea
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 Andrea
Non ho mai detto questo.

 Israel cuts off contact with Arafat
Non starebbe male in it.politica.internazionale...
Andrea
salo...@mediacomm.it

 Non ho mai detto questo.
va bene, allora mi scuso per aver frainteso.
