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December 7, 2001/Kislev 22, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 13
Sharon vows war on terror after attacks
JTA STAFF
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed to fight, and win, Israel's war against Palestinian terrorism - but observers here and abroad are wondering just how far he is willing to go.
Sharon on Dec. 5 ordered a halt to Israel's two-day bombardment of Palestinian targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to give Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat a few hours to make good on his pledge to crack down on Palestinian terror groups.
Hours before Sharon made a special address to the nation the evening of Dec. 3, Israel began attacking P.A. positions to retaliate for a weekend of terror.
The attacks continued through Dec. 4, when, in one such assault, Israel hit targets in the West Bank city of Ramallah some 50 yards from Arafat's offices.
Israel said it was not targeting Arafat, and Palestinian officials said he was not hurt.
In another action, the Israeli army destroyed runways at the Gaza airport late night, Dec. 3. The bulldozing operation limited Arafat's ability to travel, and damaged a symbol of Palestinian nationalism.
Earlier Dec. 3, Israeli helicopters fired at least nine missiles at targets near Arafat's headquarters in Gaza City. The missiles hit the barracks of Arafat's presidential guard and also destroyed several of Arafat's personal helicopters, as well as a helipad there.
Arafat was in Ramallah at the time of the attack.
A spokesman for Sharon, Ra'anan Gissin, told CNN that Arafat himself was not targeted, but that the strikes were intended to send Arafat a warning.
About two hours after the Gaza attack, Israeli warplanes fired missiles at a Palestinian police post in the West Bank city of Jenin. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
By Dec. 5, however, the attacks stopped - at least temporarily.
In a series of telephone calls Dec. 5 between Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Arafat complained that the Israeli airstrikes were preventing him from living up to the Israeli demand that he arrest terrorists.
The strikes were halted after Peres and Sharon decided to give Arafat 12 hours to make the arrests.
Peres later told Israel Radio that he'd said to Arafat, "We are giving you a list of 36 people who, as we know, are terrorist leaders. I strongly recommend that you put them in jail."
The United States this week joined Israel in demanding that Arafat make the arrests.
In an interview that aired Dec. 5 on ABC-TV, President Bush said, "It's now time for Mr. Arafat to prove whether or not he is for peace."
The president added: "And the way he can do that is to aggressively rout out those who would derail the peace process by murdering innocent Israelis, innocent women, innocent children."
That same day, a suicide bomber struck in Jerusalem, but succeeded only in killing himself.
The terrorist, who was wearing a nail- and metal-studded bomb for added deadly effect, was targeting Israeli government ministers, according to Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Israeli Cabinet met late into the night Dec. 3 to decide how to respond to a weekend of Palestinian terror bombings that claimed the lives of at least 25 Israelis.
After lengthy deliberations, the Cabinet designated the Palestinian Authority a terror-supporting entity. The Israeli government also declared that two groups affiliated with Arafat - the Tanzim militia and the Force 17 presidential guard - are terrorist organizations.
In his speech to the nation Dec. 3, Sharon repeatedly said Arafat is responsible for the continued terrorism against Israel.
"Chairman Arafat is behind everything that happens here," Sharon said, adding that Arafat "decided to achieve political aims through murder, against innocent citizens, and he chose to do this through terror."
Despite such remarks, it remained unclear whether Sharon would seek to topple Arafat.
Israel was left reeling by the weekend terror attacks, which began the night of Dec. 1 in Jerusalem's Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall. At least 10 people died and some 180 were wounded when two suicide bombers about 40 yards apart detonated their explosives close to midnight.
The bombs were followed approximately 20 minutes later by a third bomb in a car parked on nearby Rav Kook Street. Israeli officials said that bomb was aimed at emergency workers treating the wounded.
All of the bombs contained metal shards and screws to maximize the number of injured, police said.
The next morning, another suicide bomber killed at least 15 Israelis when he blew himself up on a bus in Haifa. At least 37 people were injured, three seriously.
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