RAMALLAH, West Bank, 7 June — Israeli troops stormed up to the doorstep of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s West Bank headquarters early yesterday, killing one of the Palestinian leader’s bodyguards and wounding six other men in a hit-and-run strike. Tanks shelled Arafat’s offices and troops blew up buildings in his presidential compound.
There were heavy exchanges of gunfire as the troops destroyed several buildings and a number of cars before abruptly pulling back six hours later.
Cranking up the pressure, Israeli tanks and troops returned several hours later to raid an area in the south of Ramallah, at the other end of the city from Arafat’s base.
During the pre-dawn blitz, a column of about 50 tanks and armored vehicles had opened fire with shells and heavy machine guns on Arafat’s offices, with one witness in the building saying it was hit by some 30 shells.
Arafat was not hurt and emerged defiant after the tanks pulled back.
The bombing and the army push into Arafat’s compound before a visit by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to Washington next week undercut stepped-up international diplomacy aimed at breaking a vicious cycle of Middle East violence and reviving peace talks.
After the withdrawal, Arafat stood in his bedroom in a part of the complex badly damaged by shelling and gunfire and stared wide-eyed at the dust and debris showered on his bed. Furniture was smashed and bullet holes pocked the walls.
Flashing V-for-victory signs as he stepped outside, Arafat accused Israel of "fascism" and vowed to reporters: "No one can defeat the Palestinian people."
"They wanted me to be there," he said. He had been evacuated to a safer part of the building, officials said.
Washington has warned Israel against harming or toppling Arafat but US officials sharpened criticism of him overnight, calling him ineffective and untrustworthy and saying they were reaching out to other Palestinian leaders.
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the raid aimed "to focus responsibility on the behavior of the Palestinian Authority for terror in general and the current wave in particular against which the PA and its head do not do enough to stop."
Foreign Minister Peres put blame for Wednesday’s bus bombing on Syria, where the general secretary of Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the attack, is based. "I place responsibility on Syria," he told Army Radio.
Troops surrounded Arafat’s compound around 2:15 a.m. (2315 GMT) and exchanged fire with Palestinian security men inside.
Palestinian forces carried out the flag-draped corpse of their comrade who had been killed in the raid as smoke billowed into the air from the compound, already scarred from a five-week Israeli Army siege which ended little over a month ago.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the overnight assault was "another indication of the comprehensive Israeli war against the Palestinian Authority".
Israel accused the Palestinian Authority, which governs main towns under 1993 interim peace deals, of responsibility for Wednesday’s bombing at Megiddo, a charge which was swiftly denied.
In another development, Palestinian security forces yesterday arrested a member of the Islamic Jihad group on the direct orders of Arafat, security sources said.
The arrest of Nasser Shuka, a 30-year-old researcher, came after security officials ordered the roundup of all Islamic Jihad members suspected of involvement in Wednesday’s bombing of a bus in northern Israel.
But there was no confirmation that Shuka, who was arrested from his home in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, was wanted in connection with the car bomb attack that killed 16 Israelis, most of them soldiers.
A Palestinian official pledged "fierce" action to stop attacks by Palestinian groups in Israel. Israeli officials say Arafat has failed to honor such promises in the past.
In Washington, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, meeting US politicians yesterday ahead of talks with President Bush, pressed for
American leadership to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
