GAZA, 8 December — Israeli warplanes bombed the Palestinian Authority’s main police headquarters yesterday, reducing two buildings to rubble hours before a new round of security talks began to try to halt the spiraling violence.
Israeli security chiefs later rejected a Palestinian request for an easing of retaliatory measures against the Palestinian territories, saying not enough had been done to crack down on Palestinian activists.
Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had told him Israel wanted to “be rid of” Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
“During my telephone conversation the other day with Prime Minister Sharon, it became very clear that Israel was inclined toward war,” said Ecevit, whose country is Israel’s closest regional ally and also supporter of a Palestinian state. “In fact, Sharon openly expressed their desire to be rid of Arafat,” he told reporters in Ankara.
Yesterday’s Israeli strikes in Gaza City, the hub of the Palestinian-ruled coastal strip, wounded at least 18 people and shattered windows several hundred meters away.
The talks between Palestinian and Israeli security chiefs, brokered by US special envoy Anthony Zinni, were held near Tel Aviv. There was no comment from any side on the outcome of the talks. The Israeli Army later killed two Palestinians in the northern West Bank who, it said, were preparing to carry out an attack.
Responding to the Turkish premier’s remarks, Nabil Abu Rudeina, a senior aide to Arafat, said on Palestinian radio: “We warn Israel not to play with fire. What Ecevit revealed leads to more tension and violence in all of the region.”
Palestinian security sources reported that four Israeli Army tanks early yesterday entered the village of Abasan, east of the town of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip. The sources said that tanks entered the village issuing heavy gunfire, and Israeli troops broke into several houses in the village looking for Palestinian suspects.
The sources said that on the western side of Khan Younis, Israeli troops opened heavy fire at Palestinian houses, causing severe damage but no injuries.
