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WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a Prelude to War! Israel Launches Air Strikes on W. Bank, Gaza Updated: Tue, Dec 04 5:28 AM EST By Mohammed Assadi RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israel attacked Palestinian cities across the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Tuesday, hitting just beyond Yasser Arafat's main West Bank headquarters while he was inside, but he was not hurt. The multiple bombardment by Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships was the largest simultaneous air strike at Palestinian targets since the start of a 14-month-old Palestinian uprising. Hospital officials said at least two Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded in the Gaza Strip. Israel launched the assault in response to one of the most devastating waves of Palestinian suicide bombings inside the Jewish state in years. Palestinians accused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of declaring war and demanded immediate international intervention. "Sharon's government is exercising terror. They're destroying the peace process and now they're destroying the Palestinian Authority. The world has to stop this Sharon madness immediately," Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said. Israeli missiles struck targets in Gaza City and the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza, as well as in the West Bank towns of Ramallah, Tulkarm and Qalqilya, witnesses and ofifcials said. Arafat was in his Ramallah office when one missile slammed into a police building just outside the compound, Erekat said. Israel began a second day of air strikes after the government branded Arafat's Palestinian Authority a supporter of terrorism. Troops entered three Palestinian towns and took up positions close to Arafat's Ramallah office. Israel has blamed Arafat for the Palestinian suicide bombings which killed 25 people and wounded about 200. The militant Islamic group Hamas claimed responsibility for the weekend attacks. Israel mainly directed its fire at security targets or symbols of Arafat's power. The surge of violence in the past week threatens to wreck a new U.S. Middle East peace drive and has increased concern that 14 months of violence is spiralling out of control. In branding the Palestinian Authority a "terror-supporting entity," the Israeli government paved the way to harsher retaliation against Arafat, although it announced no plans to topple the Palestinian president. Palestinian Authority officials have denied supporting terror during their uprising during which at least 743 Palestinians and 222 Israelis have been killed. HAMAS THREAT The raids seemed designed to humiliate Arafat, limit his ability to move about Palestinian areas and force him to crack down on militants. The military wing of the Hamas movement vowed to avenge the air strikes and overnight raids in into Gaza and the West Bank cities of Nablus and Ramallah. "When we swear to get revenge, we always fulfil our promise," the Izz el-Din al-Qassam military wing said in a statement. The Palestinian Authority responded to the Hamas statement by condemning the threat of revenge and urging all groups to stop all "actions that harm the Palestinian cause." The Israeli cabinet decision widened cracks in Sharon's broad coalition after Labour Party ministers walked out of the late-night government meeting. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said his center-left Labour Party would consider its future in the coalition. On Monday, Israeli missiles slammed into Palestinian security targets in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank city of Jenin, destroying three of Arafat's helicopters on a landing pad and lightly wounding about 17 people in Gaza City. Tanks entered the West Bank city of Nablus, and troops took up position a few hundred yards from the Palestinian Authority's headquarters in Ramallah as Arafat worked inside, Palestinian security sources said. They said Israeli troops shot dead a 26-year-old member of Arafat's Fatah faction during an exchange of fire in Nablus and that armored bulldozers dug up the runway of Gaza's international airport after entering Palestinian territory. WAR OF TERRORISM In an address to the nation on Monday, Sharon blamed Arafat for what he said was a war of terrorism and called him the biggest obstacle to peace. The cabinet also branded the military wing of Arafat's Fatah faction and his elite Force-17 unit as terrorist organizations. Israel chose language similar to that used by the United States when it targeted Afghanistan's Taliban rulers to flush out Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden, its prime suspect for the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Washington said on Monday Israel had the "right to defend itself" but added that President Bush had not given Sharon a green light for military action. Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo dismissed the Israeli government's declaration. "We believe the source of terrorism is the Israeli occupation of our land," he said, referring to Israel's occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since the 1967 Middle East war. *COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! Write to same address to be off lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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