RAMALLAH - Israeli troops blew up the Voice of Palestine radio station offices yesterday to avenge a deadly Palestinian attack, and exchanged fire with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Renewed violence, including a Palestinian shooting rampage on Thursday that killed six people, and new Israeli assaults on symbols of Palestinian independence, have battered international efforts to end more than 15 months of bloodshed.
At least 809 Palestinians and 246 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation broke out in September 2000 shortly after peace talks stalled.
Witnesses reported Israeli tank and gunfire to the west of Ramallah yesterday after Palestinian shooting. The Army said it responded to fire directed towards its forces in the West Bank and Gaza.
At least one Palestinian was wounded.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said Israel's attack on the Voice of Palestine building was "extremely dangerous".
"They have crossed all red lines," he said.
Israeli troops, accompanied by tanks and bulldozers, cleared people from the area before dawn and detonated explosives.
The blast sent flames, debris and smoke billowing from the five-storey building. Palestinian officials said the force shattered windows in nearby houses and accused Israel of trying to undermine the Palestinian Authority and its institutions.
The Army said it had carried out the operation in retaliation for the "murderous attack" on a Jewish party in the northern Israeli city of Hadera two days earlier.
Israel has accused the Voice of Palestine of transmitting provocative material during the uprising.
Palestinians deny the charge and say Israel is trying to silence its media.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, linked to Arafat's Fatah faction, said it carried out the Hadera attack to avenge the killing of one of its leaders in a blast blamed on Israel.
- REUTERS
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Israel destroys Palestine's radio station
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