The Palestinian Authority warned Saturday that the destruction of the Voice of Palestine broadcast building by Israeli troops in a pre-dawn raid in the West Bank city of Ramallah would lead to a deterioration in the situation in the region, and called on the international community to impose sanctions on Israel.
Nabil Abu Rudieneh, an advisor to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said "The PA calls on the international community to bring sanctions against Israel, so they will end their violent actions and crimes against the Palestinian people." Arafat’s media adviser called on the USA urging its administration to bear its responsibilities in this explosive situation, and held Israel responsible for it. Additionally, he warned the Israeli government from proceeding with its assassination policy
The Voice of Palestine radio station resumed broadcasts later Saturday after occupation troops blew up the station's offices early in the morning.
Voice of Palestine director Bassem Abusumaya said the station had re-started broadcasting news, songs and talk shows on local FM private radios from a facility in the city.
Palestinian security officials said that a dozen of Israeli tanks surrounded the hilltop broadcasting complex , and about 60 soldiers occupied the four-story building before dawn Saturday.
They added, according to Wafa, that about an hour later, a series of explosions went off inside the building as the occupation troops began leveling the complex with controlled explosions.
Witnesses said the explosions set the building on fire, sending up a large cloud of smoke and debris into the sky still dark before dawn. Palestinian firefighters tried to douse the flames.
''This stupid occupation government wants to destroy the symbol of Palestinian sovereignty. But Voice of Palestine radio is not only a building to be destroyed, it is inside the hearts of every Palestinian,'' Col. Jibril Al Rajoub Palestinian Preventive Security chief in the West Bank told reporters in Ramallah.
Israel destroyed one of the Voice of Palestine's transmission towers and its broadcasting building last month, although the station has since continued to operate via local frequencies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Clashes in Ramallah
For a second day in a row, Palestinian protesters on Saturday threw stones at the occupation vehicles, including armored personnel carriers and jeeps, in the streets outside the compound. Israeli troops responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades. One Palestinian was hit in the head with a rubber bullet, witnesses said.
On Friday, the Israeli army stormed into Ramallah and took up positions outside of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's compound. Palestinain protestors threw stones at the soldiers, and in the ensuing gunfights, a 22-year-old Palestinian was killed.
Arafat on Karine A
Meanwhile, Yasser Arafat claimed an Israeli company importing construction materials from Romania in fact used the ship the Israeli navy intercepted on January 3 and said was carrying arms to the Palestinian Authority. "This boat belongs to an Iraqi national of Kurdish origin and has been used over the past few years on a line linking Romania to the Israeli port of Ashdod," Arafat told Egyptian television Saturday in an interview. "The ship carried construction materials such as cement, iron and wood, for the Tel Aviv-based Israeli company ICM," he was quoted as saying. "The ship was seen dozens of times in Ashdod," he said.
Arafat reiterated his refutation of any military collaboration between his administration and Iran, following Israel's accusations that the Karine A vessel, which it seized in the Red Sea's international waters two weeks ago, was carrying 50 tonnes of mainly Iranian weapons.
In the same interview, Arafat confirmed earlier reports that organs were stolen from bodies of Palestinians after killing them. Arafat showed a number of pictures and said these are "irrefutable evidence on the crime perpetrated by Tel Aviv."
Earlier this month the bodies of three Palestinian children killed by Israelis last Sunday in Beit Lahya north of Gaza were found with surgery wounds and torture marks, according to the Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA). The agency said that one of the bodies was completely emptied from all organs including the eyes leaving only a broken skull. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
