Thursday, 7 March, 2002, 06:45 GMT
Israel intensifies 'war on Palestinians'
Israel has intensified its fierce offensive against the Palestinians, with dozens of tanks entering one West Bank city and F-16 fighter jets attacking another
Tanks poured into Tulkarm early on Thursday as helicopters fired missiles, killing one Palestinian and injuring three others; the F-16s bombed a police headquarters in Bethlehem. The attacks follow unusually strong criticism of Israel by US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who said "declaring war" on Palestinians did not "lead anywhere". At least 14 Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers have been killed in the last 24 hours, in a wave of Israeli air, ground and sea operations. Israeli forces killed Mohammed Anani, a leader of the militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, in a raid on his home in the West Bank village of Siris early onThursday, Palestinians said.
The air strikes cause panic
among the Palestinian population
Israeli gunboats kept up their assaults on Gaza, targeting a Palestinian police roadblock near the coast. Thirteen policemen were reported wounded, three critically. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's office in Gaza also came under fire. Mr Arafat's West Bank headquarters in Ramallah were hit late on Wednesday, just as he was meeting European Union envoy Miguel Moratinos. Mr Moratinos' spokesman, Javier Sancho, said: "We are not now making any comment. We need to gather more information, but we were there, yes." Most of the Palestinian deaths on Wednesday came about as Israeli tanks and troops rolled into Gaza, which was also bombarded from the sea and air.
Israel warned
Mr Powell told a congressional Mr Powell told a congressional committee in Washington that he disagreed with Mr Sharon's plan to use Israel's military might to force the Palestinians back to negotiations. BBC State Department correspondent John Leyne says this was Mr Powell's most explicit criticism of the Israeli leader to date.
The Intifada
If you declare war on the Palestinians and think you can solve the problem by seeing how many Palestinians can be killed - I don't know that leads us anywhere," Mr Powell told the congressional hearing. The secretary of state balanced his comments with the now routine criticism of Mr Arafat, who he said should do more to end the bloodshed. He said neither side had thought through the consequences of its policies and "they need to take a hard look at what they are doing now".
He said neither side had thought through the consequences of its policies and "they need to take a hard look at what they are doing now". Israeli commentators say Mr Sharon has been issuing some of his most aggressive statements in recent days. On Monday he told a parliamentary committee: "We have to deal [the Palestinians] very painful blows, continuously, until they understand that they won't achieve anything with terror." The latest Israeli operations come after a rocket attack from Gaza on the southern Israeli town of Sderot on Tuesday which caused minor injuries to two Israeli children. Israel has said it views the use of the unguided Qassam-2 rockets as a grave escalation of the conflict and has pledged to stamp it out. Israel has stepped up military operations since the weekend when Palestinian suicide and gun attacks left 20 people dead.
See also: Q&A: Cycle of violence
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