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Arafat Slams Israeli Shellings Against Palestinian Targets
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Thursday denounced the Israeli air raids against Palestinian targets, which killed two Palestinians and injured 60 others.
On arriving home from a two-day Arab Summit closed Wednesday in Jordanian capital Amman, Arafat said that the Israeli air raids were part of a 100-day plan adopted by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon against the Palestinians.
Arafat vowed, however, that the Palestinian intifada (uprising) would carry on "until the Palestinian flag flew over Jerusalem."
On Wednesday evening, Israeli forces shelled "specific targets" inside the Palestinian self-rule Gaza city and the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Hebron, killing a member of Arafat's personal guard Force 17 and a Palestinian civilian woman, and injuring over 60 members of the Force 17.
The strikes came apparently in retaliation for a wave of anti- Israeli bombing attacks in two days, which killed several Israelis and wounded more than 40 others.
The air raids were staged shortly after the closing of the Amman summit, where Arab leaders pledged support for the Palestinian intifada against Israel.
Meanwhile, Arafat's Fatah Movement warned in a statement on Thursday that more operations are expected inside Israel if Israeli army continued its attacks against the Palestinian people.
A statement by the Israeli presidential office said that Israel did not inform the U.S, Egypt and certain European countries of the shellings in advance, stressing that it would retain an element of surprise in any "anti-terrorism operation."
More than 430 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed in the still ongoing Palestinian-Israeli bloody clashes, triggered by Israeli violation of a disputed holy shrine in East Jerusalem last September.
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