On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said in a Parliament committee meeting that if Palestinians continue shooting Qassam-2 missiles on Israeli neighborhoods, Israel is likely to attack civilian population targets in the Palestinian territories, according to Israeli Army Radio.
Palestinians fired Qassam missiles into Israel territory on Sunday.
"If we need to surround Nablus, we'll do it to the end, and if we need to close Tulkarm, we'll close off the city until the end," the Minister reportedly said.
Meanwhile, Israeli Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh stated that if Palestinians continue to fire such missiles, they would bring a disaster upon themselves. He said that Israeli army actions would focus on weapon-manufacturing sites.
U.S.
Israeli jets and helicopter gunships hit the main security complex in Palestinian-ruled Gaza City on Monday. Palestinian sources reported that at least 37 people were injured in this raid.
In Washington, State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher criticized the airstrikes, warning that they could intensify the fighting. He also called on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to make efforts to stop the rocket attacks.
The United States said also it had received a "positive" letter Arafat outlining steps he is taking to counter arms smuggling. Boucher welcomed the contents of this letter that was delivered through the US consul-general in Jerusalem to Secretary of State Colin Powell, but cautioned that the Palestinian leader still had to act to rein in anti-Israel attacks.
"We see it as a positive letter, we're currently studying it," Boucher said, noting that it dealt largely with the measures Arafat was or would be taking in regard to the foiled Karine A weapons smuggling operation.
Prisoners
Several dozen Palestinian prisoners escaped from the Palestinian prison in the West Bank city of Hebron after friends and relatives stormed the jail on Monday afternoon.
According to Palestinian sources, scores of family members and friends of the Hebron detainees gathered near the prison building with the intention of releasing their loved ones after hearing the reports that Israel had bombed a prison complex in Gaza.
Using metal rods and other tools, they broke down the cell doors and freed many of the Palestinians held there, most of them Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists.
Palestinian sources said that as long as Israel continued to carry out retributive strikes, the inclination to release jailed activists would increase. These sources said that the jailbreak was intended to protect the prisoners from the Israeli bombing, and to strengthen the ranks of the Palestinian resistance against the occupation.
In a related development, hundreds of Palestinians tried to free prisoners from a Gaza City jail after an Israeli air strike on the compound, but were dispersed by Palestinian police firing warning shots, witnesses told AFP.
More than 500 prisoners are held in the building, both political and criminal detainees.
Police said that leading Islamist hardliners and those accused of collaborating with Israel had been evacuated to safer premises as Israeli missiles came down on the Sarayeh prison compound, which is also Gaza's main security center. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
