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Thursday, March 29, 2001

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher Wednesday issued a statement reading in part, "We certainly understand Israel's need to protect itself. At the same time we do not believe there is a military solution to this conflict."

At the White House, administration spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president was "deeply concerned about the escalation of violence."

"There is no justification for acts of terrorism," Fleischer said in a statement. "The president calls upon both sides to exercise maximum restraint to calm the situation and set the foundation for a return to negotiations."

Fleischer also said: "The Palestinian Authority should speak out publicly against violence and terrorism, arrest the perpetrators of terrorist acts, and resume security cooperation. The government of Israel should exercise restraint, while taking steps to restore normalcy for the lives of the Palestinian people by easing closures and removing checkpoints."

Israeli helicopter gunships launched a heavy barrage of rockets on targets belonging to the Palestinian Force 17 in the West Bank and other locations Wednesday, just hours after a suicide bomber killed two Israeli schoolboys at a bus stop near the border town of Neve Yemin.

The attack was the most significant retaliation to recent terrorist actions from the Palestinian Authority since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took office last month. Wednesday's attacks are clear evidence that Israel intends to continue a policy begun under Prime Minister Ehud Barak of targeting Palestinian officials suspected of terrorism.

On Tuesday, two explosions in Jerusalem left one suicide bomber dead and at least 30 people wounded. Monday, a sniper killed a 10-month-old Israeli baby in a settler compound in Hebron.

Boucher added: "The pattern of repeated suicide attacks directed at innocent civilians is an outrage and must stop. The Palestinian Authority must do all it can to fight terrorism by pre-empting attacks, arresting those responsible and bringing them to justice."

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres telephoned Secretary of State Colin Powell from Jerusalem Wednesday afternoon and caught the secretary in his weekly lunch with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Later in the day, Israel's ambassador in Washington, David Ivri, met with acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Edward Walker

An Israeli official told United Press International, "Our understanding is the Americans realize we had shown maximum restraint and in the face of continuous violent Palestinians provocations Israel had little choice but to react."

The Bush administration has not accepted Sharon's argument that Arafat is directly responsible for the wave of terrorist attacks in the last week. The closest the State Department has come on this issue is urging Arafat to take steps to pre-empt the violent attacks, but does not link him to plotting them.

Israel Channel 2 TV said Israel was attacking bases and training camps in Ramallah and Hebron, while Palestinian television reported attacks on Dir al-Balah and Khan Yunes in the Gaza Strip. There was no immediate report on injuries or damage.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society told UPI: "They are shelling from helicopters. It's the heaviest since the beginning of the Intifada."

The spokesman said the rocketing began at 7:40 p.m. and that there was also heavy machine-gun fire. Helicopters attacked a Force 17 headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, while in the Gaza Strip it attacked a Force 17 installation near the Jabaliya refugee camp, an arms depot near Ansar, a training base in the southern Gaza Strip and a Palestinian Authority armored vehicle.

Israeli officials said the gunship attacks ushered in a new policy in an Israeli government that would pursue "continuous and persistent action against the terrorists, their supporters, and those who send them."

Israel Radio said the inner security cabinet has authorized additional attacks, leaving the final decision to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who in the past said he did not like the idea of using attack helicopters and tanks, but favored domestic pressures to end the clashes.

The Israeli army said the operation was "part of an initiated IDF operation designed to directly hit sources responsible for terror."

The two Israeli schoolboys were killed Wednesday morning and four other people were injured when a Palestinian suicide bomber approached them on foot at a bus stop and detonated his charge.

Authorities said the incident occurred near Neve Yemin, in Israel proper, a short distance from the West Bank town of Kalkilya.

The slain schoolboys, ages 15 and 14, were part of a group waiting for an armor-plated bus to take them to a special school in the West Bank for children with learning disabilities.

Hananel Tuito, one of the wounded, said the bomber approached the group and spoke with the two killed before setting off the explosion.

In other violence Wednesday, a suspicious package in Netanya exploded as it was being probed by a police robot. No one was injured. Also Wednesday, an explosive device was disarmed safely at a market in Petah Tikva.

And a Palestinian youngster was killed in the Gaza Strip when he played with an unexploded device that injured two or three other children, authorities said.

The attacks came as Arab leaders held a summit in Amman, Jordan. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Tuesday he believed the attacks were designed to "impress" Israel and the Arab leaders.

Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved.

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