Explosion showers Arafat in debris

Explosions rocked Yasser Arafat’s besieged headquarters today, including one blast that showered the Palestinian leader with debris, as Israeli troops flattened every main building around him with explosives, tanks and bulldozers.

Arafat, a few aides and about 20 men wanted by Israel were pinned to a few rooms in a wing of the main office building in the West Bank town of Ramallah - the only main structure left standing in the once sprawling complex.

The White House and the European Union had urged Israel not to go too far in its reprisal for a Tel Aviv bus bombing that killed six people.

Israel’s defence minister said he wanted to isolate Arafat, but not harm or expel him.

He said troops would stay until the surrender of the wanted men, including the West Bank intelligence chief.

However, Israel TV’s Channel Two, citing defence officials, said the ultimate objective of the assault was to confine Arafat to a tiny area in difficult conditions and prompt him to seek exile.

Arafat has said he would never again leave the Palestinian lands.

The beleaguered Arafat today called on Palestinian militants to stop attacks inside Israel.

”I reiterate my call to our people and all our factions to halt any violent attacks inside Israel because (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon exploits these operations as a cover to implement his plans to destroy the peace of the brave,” Arafat said in a statement published on the web site of the Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

Arafat’s advisers said they feared the office building might collapse and that he was in the line of fire of snipers.

”President Arafat and those with him are in danger,” a key aide, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said early today, appealing for immediate international intervention.

A photographer holed up alongside Arafat said a tank shell slammed into the floor above them early today, showering Arafat with dust and debris but not wounding him.

The raid - the third on the compound since March - was launched late Thursday in retaliation for a suicide bombing on a Tel Aviv bus that killed five Israelis and a 19-year-old Jewish seminary student from Scotland.

By early today, Arafat found himself caught in the tightest Israeli chokehold yet. All the main buildings in his headquarters - except for a wing of his office building - had been demolished.

Bulldozers were also tearing out sections of a sleeping quarters for security officers and the back part of Arafat’s office building.

The military said troops razed 10 buildings and mobile homes.

Flames and thick black smoke rose from the roof of another building housing police sleeping quarters.

Bulldozers were digging a deep trench and troops ran coils of barbed wire around the main building.

Arafat was confined to his quarters on the second floor, after troops destroyed the stairway to the ground floor with a tank shell, his aides said.

Soldiers also demolished a second-floor walkway between the two wings of the building, cutting Arafat off from most of his guards in the other section.

Bulldozers barrelling into the walkway left holes in walls and tore into pipes that gushed water.

A massive D-9 bulldozer _ about the size of a small house _ belched smoke as it shovelled debris. Diesel fumes from tank exhaust and dust filled Arafat’s office, aides said.

Overnight, 27 guards, apparently not among those on Israel’s wanted list, came out of the building, their shirts raised to show they were not carrying explosives.

Early today, five explosions rocked the wing where the guards had stayed.

The White House and the European Union urged Israel to show restraint, suggesting that too harsh a reprisal for the bus blast, claimed by Arafat’s Islamic militant rival Hamas, would upset quiet efforts to reform the Palestinian Authority and secure a truce.

The UN Security Council was expected to meet on Monday to discuss the latest actions. The meeting was requested by the Palestinians.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, troops destroyed three houses belonging to activists in the militant Hamas movement.

It appeared the Ramallah siege would not end quickly.

Israel said troops would only withdraw after the surrender of the 20 wanted men. Arafat was defiant. “I say it frankly, we are ready for peace, not for capitulation and we will not give up Jerusalem or a grain of our soil from our homeland, Palestine,” Arafat said in the Wafa statement.

The army has not released a complete list of names of wanted men, but detailed allegations against four, including Tawfik Tirawi, the intelligence chief, and Mahmoud Damra, head of Force 17, Arafat’s elite bodyguard unit, in Ramallah.

The military said Tirawi was involved in shooting attacks that killed at least six Israelis and funneled money to militiamen.

Arafat’s sprawling compound had been heavily damaged in previous Israeli raids. During a major offensive in March and April, Israeli troops confined Arafat to a few rooms for 34 days.

In June, troops reoccupied Ramallah and most other West Bank towns, and Arafat has not ventured from his compound since then, even on days when a military curfew was lifted.

On Thursday, in a Cabinet meeting after the bus attack, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reportedly raised the idea of expelling Arafat. Defence minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the plan -for now - was to isolate, not oust the Palestinian leader.

Arafat was in relatively good spirits on Friday, those around him said. He was kept awake at night by the shooting and bulldozers toppling walls, but performed Friday prayers - the highlight of the Muslim week - in his office before taking an afternoon nap. Water and electricity had not been cut, unlike in earlier raids.

Palestinian finance minister Salam Fayad, who said he got a few hours of sleep rolled up in a blanket on the floor, said the mood around Arafat was defiant. “We are confident of our ability to overcome this crisis,” he said by telephone.

Throughout the day, Arafat spoke to several European officials and Arab leaders, asking them to pressure Israel to lift the siege.

Washington cautioned Israel to show restraint, while also urging the Palestinians to try to prevent attacks on Israeli civilians.

”Israel has the right to defend itself and to deal with security, but Israel also has a need to bear in mind the consequences of action and Israel’s stake in development of reforms in the Palestinian institutions,” said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

The flare-up comes at a time when the United States, because of its showdown with Iraq, is particularly in need of Arab good will. Harsh Israeli action against Arafat could spoil that.

The European Union, while condemning the suicide attacks, said restricting Arafat’s movement would not help fight terrorism.