Israeli F-16 Warplanes Strike Jenin

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, December 04, 2001

Israeli F-16 Warplanes Strike Jenin

An Israeli F-16 warplane fired a rocket on Monday night on the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) security headquarters in Jenin town in northern West Bank, Palestinian security sources reported.

An Israeli F-16 warplane fired a rocket on Monday night on the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) security headquarters in Jenin town in northern West Bank, Palestinian security sources reported.

The sources told Xinhua that three F-16 fighters flew over Jenin in the evening, and then a huge explosion was heard in the town, where the police discovered that it was a shelling of the PNA headquarters, no casualties were reported.

The sources also said one of the F-16 rockets hit a Palestinian building consists of four floors, where Palestinian sources said that at least four people were injured, one in serious conditions.

Earlier on Monday evening, four Israeli Apache helicopters fired at least 19 rockets and destroyed two helicopters that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was using in flying between Gaza and West Bank.

The Israeli army attacks and strikes on Gaza and the West Bank is an apparent retaliation to the Palestinian suicide bombing attacks that killed 25 Israelis and wounded more than 200 in Jerusalem and northern city of Haifa over the weekend.

In the helicopters strike on Arafat's helicopters hanger, Palestinian medical sources at Shiffa Hospital reported that 18 Palestinians were injured, most of them were in light conditions. A Palestinian house next to the hanger was burned and destroyed.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinian supporters of Hamas demonstrated in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza against the Palestinian authority's arrests of about 100 Palestinian activist members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad (holy war).

A Palestinian public security statement said that three Israeli tanks and three bulldozers drove about one kilometer into the northern Gaza Strip village of Beit Lahya and bulldozed lands and cut trees in the area.

Attacks Only Signal

The air strikes on the Gaza Strip were not targeted to attack Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Chairman Yasser Arafat, but intended to send "a clear signal" to force the Palestinian leadership to act against "terrorism," a senior aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Monday.

Ra'anan Gissin said the air raids were in response to the suicide bombing attacks over the weekend that left 25 Israelis dead.

He charged the terrorist operations were conducted from the PNA territories and with the full knowledge of the PNA.

Gissin said that "the time of declaration had ended" and it is time for the Palestinian leadership to prove by actions that it would combat the radical organizations in its territories.

The fact that the Israeli air strikes were targeted on the nearby buildings near Arafat's headquarters instead of his home or the Headquarters Compound, were intended as a clear signal that the Palestinians "can now start to take actions to stop the wave to terrorist attacks" on Israelis, Gissin said.

Gissin said "the moment of truth has come." If the Palestinians do not "bring justice" to the radical militants, Israel will "bring justice to them."

Gissin said that the PNA has to act to dismantle the infrastructure of the radical organizations of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the branch of the Islamic radical group of Hezbollah, or Party of God, in the territories.

He said Arafat should also take actions against the militia group of Tanzim affiliated with his Fatah movement and even members of his elite Force 17.

Asked whether the arrests made by the Palestinian security forces following the bombing attacks in Israel should be taken into account, Gissin dismissed them as "televised" operations and said Israel expects the PNA to arrest those who were planning and carrying out the "terrorist attacks" and dismantle the infrastructure of the radical organizations.

Gissin said that if the PNA complies with signed agreements, "stops incitement and violence" and "assumes its responsibility," then both sides could return to the negotiating table.

Attacks on Palestinian Targets Condemned

Iran on Monday condemned Israel's air strikes on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's residence in Gaza and other Palestinian targets in the West Bank.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi called Israel "a source of tension and crisis in the region," denouncing that Israel is striving to impose its defeated iron-feast policy in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Asefi said that following the Israeli policy of targeted assassination and its disregard of the criticism of the international community, the Mideast situation was getting worse.

Any Israeli atrocities and its suppression of legitimate rights of the Palestinians will only serve to trigger the anger of Muslim nations and lead to the deterioration of the Mideast crisis, he added.

The spokesman also called for the world community to take swift and determined actions to prevent "Israeli terrorist activities" in the occupied territories, saying that "ignoring the Israeli intransigence has only encouraged the Zionist regime to increase its terrorist acts."

Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani on Monday denounced the Israeli air strikes on Gaza and West Bank, Kuwait's official KUNA news agency reported.

The emir's remarks came during a phone call with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat who briefed the Qatari emir on the Israeli attacks against the Palestinian territories.

The emir reiterated the importance of establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Sheikh Hamad, whose country is the rotating chairman of the Organization of Islamic Conference, called on the international community to help stop the Israeli "aggression" against the Palestinian people and increase efforts to resume the peace process negotiations.

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