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RAMALLAH, West Bank ?? Israeli troops stormed Yasser Arafat's headquarters complex Friday and moved room to room toward the Palestinian leader, knocking through walls and trading fire with his guards in a building where Arafat took cover in a windowless office.
Palestinian officials said Israeli troops in the compound had taken over the top and bottom floors of Arafat's office building by nightfall, trapping the Palestinian leader on the floor in between, with the electricity cut and cellular phones Arafat's only contact with the outside world.
Five Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed, 25 of Arafat's guards were wounded and at least 60 Palestinians were detained in the assault on this West Bank city, launched after Israel declared the Palestinian leader its enemy. The Cabinet approved a large-scale campaign in response to anti-Israeli attacks that killed 30 people in three days.
In the latest Palestinian attack, an 18-year-old woman blew herself up at the entrance of a Jerusalem supermarket, killing herself and two shoppers and wounding about 20 others. The Al-Aqsa Brigades, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, said it sent the bomber.
Despite the violence, the White House said Thursday its envoy, Anthony Zinni, would continue his mission trying to forge a cease-fire. Zinni met with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and spoke to Arafat by telephone.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Washington that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had told the United States that Arafat would not be harmed and the operation aimed to isolate him.
Powell urged Sharon to use restraint and consider the consequences of escalation. But he added: "Let's be clear about what brought it all to a halt ? terrorism," and called on Arafat to put a stop to violence.
With a submachine gun placed next to him on a table, a defiant Arafat huddled with aides throughout the day in a windowless office as gunfire blazed outside, speaking by phone to world leaders and demanding international intervention. "They want me under arrest or in exile or dead, but I am telling them, I prefer to be martyred," Arafat said in a telephone interview with Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite television channel. "May God make us martyrs."
Two dozen Israeli tanks swarmed through Arafat's walled compound, an area the size of a city block with numerous structures. Heavy tank and gunfire hit the first and third floors of Arafat's office building, hitting his bedroom and private office, Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said.
Israeli troops streamed into adjacent buildings and punched through wall after wall, moving toward the office building. The Israelis broke through into the office building itself and traded fire with Arafat's guards through the hole.
A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Arafat told him by cell phone that by nightfall Israeli troops had taken over the entire office building except the middle floor. Electricity and land phone lines were cut, the Palestinians said.
Erekat said Israel's "endgame is to kill Arafat," an accusation that Sharon aide Ranaan Gissin dismissed as "nonsense." Israel TV said the operation aimed to confine Arafat to a few rooms in the building.
Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Eitan, commander of Israeli troops in the West Bank, said large amounts of weapons were found in the compound and about 60 people were detained. Abed Rabbo told CNN those detained were unarmed, mostly secretaries and drivers.
The Cabinet approved a large-scale offensive, agreeing to the callup of thousands of reserve soldiers, but it was not known whether operations would take place elsewhere besides Ramallah.
Sharon did not explain what branding Arafat an enemy would mean in practical terms, but left open the possibility that the Palestinian leader could be expelled from the territories. Sharon said Israel had sought a cease-fire in good faith, "but all Israel got in return was terrorism, terrorism and more terrorism."
Arafat announced on Thursday night his "readiness for an immediate implementation of the (U.S. truce) plan without any conditions." But he stopped short of formally declaring a cease-fire.
Israeli police also stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, using stun grenades to disperse stone-throwing Muslim worshippers.
Friday's assault was the closest Israeli fire has come to the Palestinian leader ? though Israel has repeatedly hit buildings in the compound where he has been confined for months.
As the Israeli Cabinet met overnight, tanks rolled into Ramallah, and soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen. Four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in the fighting.
The tanks then stormed Arafat's compound, breaking through its outer walls. An army bulldozer punched a large hole in the wall of one building and soldiers streamed in. Israeli snipers took positions on rooftops. Tanks shelled the Palestinian intelligence headquarters in the complex, severely damaging it, and troops stormed a lockup adjacent to Arafat's building. One Palestinian was killed in the compound and 25 wounded.
The fighting came a day after an Arab summit in Beirut approved a plan that calls on Arab nations to develop normal relations with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from territory captured in the 1967 Mideast war. The plan marked the first time in more than a half-century of Mideast conflict that Arab states have made such an offer. Israel said it would study the plan, but that its top priority was responding to Palestinian attacks.
Palestinian refugees demonstrated in camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria to protest the Israeli assault in Ramallah, and Arab leaders said the Israeli operation aimed to scuttle the peace offer.
The latest escalation began with a suicide bombing by the Islamic militant group Hamas on Wednesday in a hotel in the Israeli resort of Netanya. The bomber blew himself up in the hotel's banquet hall among 250 Israelis gathered for the ritual meal ushering in the Jewish holiday of Passover. Twenty-two diners were killed and more than 130 were hurt, putting the attack on par with a suicide bombing outside a Tel Aviv disco last June that also killed 22 people.
Aftrer the bombing, Sharon came under growing pressure from an outraged public to respond harshly. The bombing was followed by two attacks on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that killed six Israelis, and the suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
Earlier this month, the Israeli military snet 20,000 soldiers into towns, villages and refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, hunting for Palestinian militants. That operation was the biggest since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
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RAMALLAH, West Bank ?? Israeli troops stormed Yasser Arafat's headquarters complex Friday and moved room to room toward the Palestinian leader, knocking through walls and trading fire with his guards in a building where Arafat took cover in a windowless office.
Palestinian officials said Israeli troops in the compound had taken over the top and bottom floors of Arafat's office building by nightfall, trapping the Palestinian leader on the floor in between, with the electricity cut and cellular phones Arafat's only contact with the outside world.
Five Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed, 25 of Arafat's guards were wounded and at least 60 Palestinians were detained in the assault on this West Bank city, launched after Israel declared the Palestinian leader its enemy. The Cabinet approved a large-scale campaign in response to anti-Israeli attacks that killed 30 people in three days.
In the latest Palestinian attack, an 18-year-old woman blew herself up at the entrance of a Jerusalem supermarket, killing herself and two shoppers and wounding about 20 others. The Al-Aqsa Brigades, a militia linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, said it sent the bomber.
Despite the violence, the White House said Thursday its envoy, Anthony Zinni, would continue his mission trying to forge a cease-fire. Zinni met with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and spoke to Arafat by telephone.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Washington that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had told the United States that Arafat would not be harmed and the operation aimed to isolate him.
Powell urged Sharon to use restraint and consider the consequences of escalation. But he added: "Let's be clear about what brought it all to a halt ? terrorism," and called on Arafat to put a stop to violence.
With a submachine gun placed next to him on a table, a defiant Arafat huddled with aides throughout the day in a windowless office as gunfire blazed outside, speaking by phone to world leaders and demanding international intervention. "They want me under arrest or in exile or dead, but I am telling them, I prefer to be martyred," Arafat said in a telephone interview with Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite television channel. "May God make us martyrs."
Two dozen Israeli tanks swarmed through Arafat's walled compound, an area the size of a city block with numerous structures. Heavy tank and gunfire hit the first and third floors of Arafat's office building, hitting his bedroom and private office, Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said.
Israeli troops streamed into adjacent buildings and punched through wall after wall, moving toward the office building. The Israelis broke through into the office building itself and traded fire with Arafat's guards through the hole.
A Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Arafat told him by cell phone that by nightfall Israeli troops had taken over the entire office building except the middle floor. Electricity and land phone lines were cut, the Palestinians said.
Erekat said Israel's "endgame is to kill Arafat," an accusation that Sharon aide Ranaan Gissin dismissed as "nonsense." Israel TV said the operation aimed to confine Arafat to a few rooms in the building.
Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Eitan, commander of Israeli troops in the West Bank, said large amounts of weapons were found in the compound and about 60 people were detained. Abed Rabbo told CNN those detained were unarmed, mostly secretaries and drivers.
The Cabinet approved a large-scale offensive, agreeing to the callup of thousands of reserve soldiers, but it was not known whether operations would take place elsewhere besides Ramallah.
Sharon did not explain what branding Arafat an enemy would mean in practical terms, but left open the possibility that the Palestinian leader could be expelled from the territories. Sharon said Israel had sought a cease-fire in good faith, "but all Israel got in return was terrorism, terrorism and more terrorism."
Arafat announced on Thursday night his "readiness for an immediate implementation of the (U.S. truce) plan without any conditions." But he stopped short of formally declaring a cease-fire.
Israeli police also stormed the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, using stun grenades to disperse stone-throwing Muslim worshippers.
Friday's assault was the closest Israeli fire has come to the Palestinian leader ? though Israel has repeatedly hit buildings in the compound where he has been confined for months.
As the Israeli Cabinet met overnight, tanks rolled into Ramallah, and soldiers exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen. Four Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in the fighting.
The tanks then stormed Arafat's compound, breaking through its outer walls. An army bulldozer punched a large hole in the wall of one building and soldiers streamed in. Israeli snipers took positions on rooftops. Tanks shelled the Palestinian intelligence headquarters in the complex, severely damaging it, and troops stormed a lockup adjacent to Arafat's building. One Palestinian was killed in the compound and 25 wounded.
The fighting came a day after an Arab summit in Beirut approved a plan that calls on Arab nations to develop normal relations with Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from territory captured in the 1967 Mideast war. The plan marked the first time in more than a half-century of Mideast conflict that Arab states have made such an offer. Israel said it would study the plan, but that its top priority was responding to Palestinian attacks.
Palestinian refugees demonstrated in camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria to protest the Israeli assault in Ramallah, and Arab leaders said the Israeli operation aimed to scuttle the peace offer.
The latest escalation began with a suicide bombing by the Islamic militant group Hamas on Wednesday in a hotel in the Israeli resort of Netanya. The bomber blew himself up in the hotel's banquet hall among 250 Israelis gathered for the ritual meal ushering in the Jewish holiday of Passover. Twenty-two diners were killed and more than 130 were hurt, putting the attack on par with a suicide bombing outside a Tel Aviv disco last June that also killed 22 people.
Aftrer the bombing, Sharon came under growing pressure from an outraged public to respond harshly. The bombing was followed by two attacks on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that killed six Israelis, and the suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
Earlier this month, the Israeli military snet 20,000 soldiers into towns, villages and refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza, hunting for Palestinian militants. That operation was the biggest since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
