GAZA, 14 March — Israeli tanks and troops raided Palestinian town of Ramallah and a village in the Gaza Strip yesterday, despite strong criticism from Washington. An officer in Arafat’s guard, an Israeli lieutenant and an Italian war photographer were killed in Ramallah.
A presidential spokesman said in Washington that the Bush administration was “very concerned” about Israeli military actions that have claimed the lives of Palestinian civilians, warning that they could undercut efforts by US envoy Anthony Zinni to reach a cease-fire.
European Commission chief Romano Prodi and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan both strongly condemned the Israeli actions. Sweden condemned the Israeli Army’s “targeting” of Palestinian ambulances and the killing of medical personnel.
Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority said Zinni’s mission would be doomed as long as Israeli forces stayed in Ramallah, a city of 200,000 and the West Bank’s commercial and political hub. “A cease-fire is impossible as long as they are occupying Ramallah and as long as they are putting snipers on the roofs of buildings in the city to kill and target civilians who are moving in the street,” said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.
Late at night, Israeli tanks rolled into the Palestinian village of Al-Qarara in the southern Gaza Strip and soldiers imposed a curfew. The army circled the village and called on residents over loudspeakers to stay indoors. Residents said the owners of two homes were ordered to evacuate for their buildings to be demolished.
Earlier, Palestinian security sources said Abu Fadi, deputy commander in Ramallah for Arafat’s Force 17 elite guard, was killed in a gunbattle with Israelis. Free-lance photographer Raffaele Ciriello, 42, who was shot several times in the chest, became the first foreign journalist killed covering the 17-month-long conflict. A colleague who was with him when he was killed said Ciriello was shot by Israeli soldiers.
At the United Nations, the Security Council passed a US-drafted resolution referring for the first time to a Palestinian state existing side by side with Israel. The 14-0 vote late on Tuesday, with Syria abstaining, also marked the first time the 15-nation Council had approved a resolution on the Middle East since October 2000. US Ambassador John Negroponte said Washington’s surprise move aimed to give momentum to Zinni’s peace mission.
