Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will address the nation Thursday evening in order to present his policy to the public, in light of the escalation in violence over recent days.
Meanwhile, Israel has been continuing its attacks on Palestinian targets. Helicopters fired missiles at Thursday morning at a building belonging to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Force 17 presidential guard in El Bireh, close to the West Bank city of Ramallah, and Palestinian police headquarters in the city.
The strikes cut off the electricity in at least some areas of Ramallah.
Palestinian witnesses said that helicopters had also targeted a PA police post in Nablus, as well as striking at Arafat's Ramallah headquarters for the second time Thursday. The Palestinian leader was unhurt.
Palestinian sources also reported that helicopters had fired missiles at a PA security complex in the southern Gaza Strip.
Earlier, Israeli troops killed five Palestinians and wounded over 30 others during raids before dawn Thursday into Palestinian-ruled territory in the southern and eastern Gaza Strip, Palestinian doctors said.
A total of 19 Palestinians were killed Wednesday in Israeli strikes.
Checkpoint Attack
Two Israeli soldiers were wounded Thursday morning in a shooting attack by Palestinian gunmen at a checkpoint in the village of Baka al-Sharkiyah, on the 1967 Green Line border, north of the West Bank city of Tulkarem.
An Israeli Arab resident of the neighboring village of Baka al Garbiyeh, Manhal Drajma, 32, was shot dead by in the gunbattle while on his way to the nearby market. Two other people were lightly wounded, Haaretz reported.
One of the Palestinians was killed in the gunbattle, the other managed to escape in a vehicle. Israel Radio reported that an explosive device was found close to the body of the dead Palestinian.
Arrests
Palestinian security forces arrested three suspects in the assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi on Thursday morning. These arrests meet a key Israeli condition for lifting a travel ban on Arafat.
The arrests were announced by the Palestinian intelligence chief in the West Bank city of Nablus, Colonel Talal Dweikat, who said the detention order came directly from Arafat.
Israel has said Arafat could only leave the West Bank town of Ramallah once Ze'evi's assassins have been detained. Arafat has been confined to Ramallah since December 2001.
Ze'evi was shot and killed in the hallway of the Hyatt Hotel in Jerusalem on October 17 of last year. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) carried out the assassination. The Palestinian Authority arrested the leader of the PFLP, Ahmed Saadat, last month.
Dweikat identified the three men in detention as Ahed Abu Gholme, Basel Asmar and Hamdi Koran. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
