-Caveat Lector-
(US practicing racial apartheid by complicity to Israel...?)
(Poke the hornet's nest until you get them to sting you,
then justifiably bomb them...)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/2274279.stm
Sunday, 22 September, 2002, 13:28 GMT 14:28 UK
Protests grow over Arafat siege
http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38269000/jpg/_38269787_rubble300.jpg
Israel's aim is to make life unbearable for Yasser Arafat
Israel's siege and destruction of Yasser Arafat's headquarters in
Ramallah is causing mounting protests, from both the international
community and the Palestinian population.
Palestinians have poured out into the streets, many in defiance of
military curfew, in support of their leader, while the European Union,
France, Russia and Arab countries have urged an end to the siege.
The army has kept up pressure on Mr Arafat by intermittently cutting
water and power supplies, after tearing down the last remaining building
next to his office overnight.
Mr Arafat is refusing to give in to the Israeli Government's demands
that he surrender 50 suspected militants Israel says are hiding in his
offices.
Popular protests began in the early hours when the army announced on
loudspeakers at the compound that troops were about to blow up Mr
Arafat's office unless the wanted men surrendered.
Israel says it does not intend to harm Mr Arafat, and the army later
made it clear there were no plans to blow up the building.
Just a few kilometres from Mr Arafat's compound, troops fired tear
gas and live rounds to disperse a chanting crowd breaking a curfew. One
protester and a journalist were killed, medical sources said.
Two other people were killed in Tulkarm and the Balata refugee camp
next to Nablus.
Later on Sunday, a teenager was shot dead in Nablus.
There have also been large demonstrations in Gaza, which is still
under Palestinian control, and in Jericho, where several hundred people
marched on a prison holding six men jailed as part of a deal in May to
lift the last siege of Mr Arafat's compound.
The foreign monitors at the prison threatened to leave, saying they
felt endangered by the mob, who were calling for the men's release.
Reports in Israel say the assault on Ramallah is meant to force Mr
Arafat to choose exile rather than suffer the relentless pressure put on
him by the army.
Deputy Defence Minister Weizman Shiri said that Mr Arafat could
leave the country, but would not be allowed to return.
If he decides he wants to get out we'll give him a lift, Mr Shiri
told army radio on Sunday.
Inside the compound, the Palestinian leader is reported to have told
his entourage that he wanted God to grant him the honour of martyrdom
and no one would be handed over to Israel.
Israel initially said there were 19 wanted men in the compound,
including members of the intelligence service and Mr Arafat's personal
bodyguard, but a senior army officer said the figure increased because
the army had not had a complete picture of who was inside.
International reaction
France has condemned the siege on Mr Arafat's compound as unacceptable
and called for it to be halted immediately.
Denmark, the current president of the European Union, said Israel's
actions would neither curb terror nor improve security for its
civilians.
The Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, has called on the United
States to intervene immediately; and Jordan said Israel's actions
threatened the stability of the region.
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit of Turkey - Israel's principal ally in
the region - also said he was extremely upset by an attack on the
legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
But there has been no strong reaction from Washington, and a BBC
correspondent in Jerusalem says that until that changes, Israel is
unlikely to alter its course.
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