Israel opens new front in 'war on terror'

3:00 pm

JERUSALEM - Israel has declared President Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority a "terror-supporting entity", opening the way for harsher retaliation for a wave of suicide attacks, an Israeli security source said.

The Israeli cabinet also declared the armed wing of Arafat's Fatah organisation and his elite Force 17 security units to be "terrorist groups", making them possible targets, the source said.

The cabinet had threatened in October, following the assassination of a far-right minister, to "act against the Palestinian Authority in the way currently accepted by the international community to act against a leadership that supports terror".

That was widely interpreted to mean Israel would treat the Palestinian leadership with the same military response the United States was using against Afghanistan's Taleban government for sheltering Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and fellow right-wingers backed today's decisions, but dovish Foreign Minister Shimon Peres led a walkout by leftwing cabinet members before a vote was taken, the source said.

The decisions followed Israeli military strikes in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the suicide attacks in Israel.

Earlier today Israeli troops advanced to within 200m of President Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah, according to Palestinian security sources.

The sources said troops had taken up position near Arafat's headquarters, where he was working early today.

An army spokesman said forces had also made "minor" incursions into Ramallah and other West Bank areas but declined further comment.

Palestinian security sources said Israeli troops and tanks had moved into Palestinian-ruled parts of the cities of Ramallah and Nablus and entered a village near Tulkarm.

Israeli forces firing heavy machineguns also moved into Palestinian-run Gaza airport today.

At least three armoured vehicles seized the grounds of the airport, and Palestinian security men who were holed up in one building told Israeli commanders they would not surrender, Palestinian Colonel Khaled Abu al-Ula told Reuters.

Major General Abdel-Razek al-Majaydeh, Palestinian public security chief, today told Reuters: "Bulldozers have started tearing up the runway. It is an act of sabotage. It is a flagrant aggression on one of the symbols of Palestinian sovereignty."

The Israeli army had no immediate comment.

Gaza International Airport has been out of operation since last year when the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began.

Abu al-Ula, head of the Palestinian military liaison unit with Israel, said he asked the Israeli army to leave immediately and vowed that "our forces will remain inside the airport and will defend it and will not surrender".

There was no immediate report of casualties.

Meanwhile, the White House has said that Israel had the right to defend itself against Palestinian suicide bombings, and has placed the onus of resolving the latest crisis squarely on Yasser Arafat.

As the Bush administration grimly contemplated the collapse of its first serious peace initiative even before it had properly begun, the President's spokesman conspicuously avoided any of Washington's usual formulations about the need for Israel to show restraint, or that its reprisals were "disproportionate."

Israel was a sovereign state, and "obviously has the right to defend itself. The President understands that very clearly," Ari Fleischer declared, minutes after Israeli missiles slammed into Palestinian-ruled Gaza City in the first retaliation to the bombings in Haifa and Jerusalem, for which the Hamas extremist group has claimed responsibility.

Beyond that, his only caution for Israel was to reiterate the remark of Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, that all parties "must be cognisant of the consequences of their actions." The White House firmly believes that is up to the Palestinian leader to show that he is in control, at what General Powell has called a "moment of truth" for Mr Arafat. Not only were the attacks "dastardly acts of terror, they were attacks against his authority."

US officials say that the tough steps they are now urging should have been taken weeks or months ago. They claim that had Mr Arafat permanently rounded up those responsible for previous attacks and not quietly released them soon afterwards, the present crisis might have been avoided.

Mr Fleischer returned to that theme yesterday, stressing that Mr Arafat now had "a real opportunity... to show in actions, not words, that he stands for peace, and that he will take action that is enduring, and meaningful" against those who sponsored the attacks. He had a "100 per cent obligation to stop the violence."

Otherwise, despite vague assurances that the US remained committed to the search for peace, Washington appeared at a complete loss yesterday what to do next.

Mr Fleischer gave no details of the hastily rearranged discussions on Sunday here between Mr Bush and Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister.

A further sign of uncertainty was the reported cancellation of a presidential press event yesterday afternoon that would have forced Mr Bush to face specific questions on his Middle East policy.

In the meantime, the Administration has to find answers to some fundamental questions – above all, whether Mr Arafat is any longer worth dealing with, or whether he has irretrievably lost control.

- REUTERS, - INDEPENDENT

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