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Middle East
Israelis storm Yasser's compound
2002-03-29
  • Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was trapped in his burning office compound this morning, under siege by Israeli tanks after Jerusalem's Cabinet declared him "the enemy." Arafat "will be isolated," vowed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

    Tanks roared into the Ramallah area early this morning, closing in on the Palestinian Authority headquarters from two directions. They quickly bulldozed through a protective fence and began firing on the building. Three of Arafat's personal bodyguards were wounded in the intense firefight in and around the compound, and initial reports indicated one Israeli soldier had been killed. "Israeli tanks fired shells at President Arafat's offices and the building is on fire, and we are inside," Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told Reuters by telephone. "It seems they will storm the building."

    Israel launched the siege after Arafat, fearing he's a marked man, tried to ward off a military assault yesterday by claiming he was ready to accept a U.S.-backed cease-fire agreement.
    Has Yasser finally made them say "He's gone too far this time" one too many times? Will the slippery old thug finally buy the very small farm? (Arab News had an editorial yesterday about how the PA leadership had "failed its people.") Or will he live, to hatch more plausibly deniable nefarious schemes? Stay tuned for more...

  • Israeli troops stormed Yasser Arafat's headquarters complex and moved room to room toward the Palestinian leader, knocking through walls and trading fire with his guards in a building where Arafat took cover in a windowless office. Five Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed, 25 of Arafat's guards were wounded and 70 Palestinians were arrested in the assault on this West Bank city.
    What a nice picture: Yasser in his windowless hidey-hole with his gun on the desk in front of him, while the Israelis clean out the rats' nest. We'll be back to more of the same next week, but this week is prime.

  • The troops also seized a large number of weapons, including anti-tank missiles, forbidden under the terms of the Oslo accords, as well as equipment used by the Palestinians to eavesdrop on Israeli telephone conversations.
    They'll get more. Don't worry. Probably on their way from Iran right now, as soon as the Saudi check clears.

  • A Palestinian official said Arafat told him by cell phone that by nightfall Israeli troops had taken over the entire office building except the middle floor. Electricity and land phone lines were cut.
    Now just keep him there. Forever. Wall him in. Don't let him out, don't let anyone in. Eventually his cell phone battery will go dead. At little more eventually so will he.
    • Posted by:Fred Pruitt

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