RAMALLAH - An Israeli helicopter fired a missile near Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat last night, but he emerged unscathed as Israel retaliated with fury for the killing of six Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.
At least 13 Palestinian civilians and security officers were killed in the barrage of Israeli reprisal strikes against Palestinian targets across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Ten Israelis and 25 Palestinians, including two suicide bombers, have been killed since Tuesday in one of the worst spasms of Israeli-Palestinian violence.
"Arafat and his aides are safe in his office," Mohammed Dahlan, a Palestinian security chief, said after the missile hit an intelligence facility.
It was the closest Israel has come to harming Arafat, under Israeli siege in Ramallah.
The attack on the Israeli Army checkpoint and fierce retaliation threatened a worse deterioration to come in one of the deadliest phases of violence between the sides, set in motion this week, since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation flared in September 2000.
An armed wing of Arafat's Fatah faction and the militant Islamic group Hamas issued rival claims of responsibility for the attack on the Army post west of Ramallah in which gunmen shot the soldiers at close range in a caravan and then fled.
The deadliest strike on troops in the uprising was bound to put right-wing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for stronger action against the Palestinians and boost calls from the left for a pullout in the West Bank and Gaza.
Arafat aide Ahmed Abdel-Rahman accused Sharon of a "new crime" with the bombardments and pledged "resistance will never end until the end of the occupation. The international community should shoulder its responsibility to stop the Israeli aggression".
Dore Gold, a Sharon adviser, again pointed a finger at Arafat, who Israel says does nothing to rein in militants.
"The Palestinian Authority has again delivered its daily dose of death with the murder of these innocent Israelis. They want to break the will of Israel, to break the unity of our society. We will not be broken."
- REUTERS
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Closest shave yet for Arafat as furious Israelis retaliate
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