Amid Rubble, Arafat Vows to Press Revolt

A defiant Yasser Arafat, inspecting the charred rubble left by Israeli airstrikes on the headquarters of his elite security forces here, vowed to forge ahead with the 6-month-old Palestinian revolt despite the ominous warnings of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

“Our people will continue the uprising until we raise the Palestinian flag on every minaret and church in Jerusalem,” the Palestinian Authority president said. He accused Sharon of launching a 100-day military offensive against Palestinian forces.

Sharon said he was firing the opening shot in a “protracted campaign against terrorism.”

Clashes and gun battles raged again Thursday, with at least three more Palestinians--a police officer and two teenagers--killed and eight wounded. In the tense divided city of Hebron, where a Jewish baby was killed Monday, Israeli army tanks shelled Palestinian houses after gunmen reportedly were spotted inside.

The renewed fighting came a day after Israeli helicopters rocketed the headquarters, training camp and arms depot of Arafat’s presidential guard here and in the Gaza Strip. One Palestinian officer burned to death in the raids, which were ordered by Sharon as punishment for terrorist bombings and shootings that had taken the lives of three Israeli children, including the baby, in a 36-hour period.

One of the Israeli victims, 13-year-old Naftali Lanskorn, was buried Thursday by weeping classmates. He and another boy were killed by a suicide bomber the day before as they waited for a bus to take them to school.

Sharon’s decision to launch the first military strikes since he assumed power three weeks ago was directed as much at Israeli public opinion as purported terrorists, Israeli analysts said. Polls published Thursday showed two-thirds of respondents supported tougher military action against the Palestinians.

“Our situation seems to worsen with new dangers every day,” said Sima Levy, a 47-year-old secretary who was waiting Thursday for the No. 6 passenger bus, the same line in northern Jerusalem that was hit by a suicide bomber two days earlier. “You are not safe driving in your car; you have to avoid buses, taxis and every other city in Israel. It is so scary it is almost cliche.”

The Wednesday night rocket attacks targeted Force 17, which takes orders directly from Arafat. Israeli media quoted security sources as implicating the unit in 100 shootings in recent months that claimed eight Israeli lives. Force 17 recently began firing mortars into Jewish settlements and Israeli army posts in the Gaza Strip, the reports said.

Palestinian officials deny the accusations against Force 17 and Thursday labeled Israel’s airstrikes “state terrorism.”

Force 17’s base here, a collection of prefab mobile homes, was a smoky pile of crumpled metal Thursday as Arafat toured briefly with his entourage and said a prayer.

“This is not the first time we have faced confrontation, escalation or war,” Arafat said. “Neither the siege nor the bombardment nor [other measures] . . . will break the spirit of our people.”

Also damaged in the airstrikes was Arafat’s home in Gaza; its upper-floor windows were shattered.

Sharon’s Cabinet authorized the prime minister to launch attacks after consulting with his defense and foreign ministers instead of the full Cabinet, freeing his hand considerably. Sharon is considering what an aide called a “rich menu” of options, including assassinations and undercover operations into Palestinian territory to capture or kill suspected terrorists.

“As long as the terrorism continues, everything as of now is kosher,” Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said.

Since Sharon’s landslide election Feb. 6, Israel has been hit with a steady stream of shootings, bombings and attempted bombings, escalated by Palestinian militants in a bid to provoke the inveterate hawk and hard-liner into rash action.

Sharon surprised even some of his most ardent critics by holding back, but it could only last so long as the clamor for something to be done grew and crossed political lines. Just hours after the end of an Arab League summit in Jordan, Sharon scrambled the helicopters.

“We do not want to see blood, not our own, not Palestinian,” Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, the dove in Sharon’s government, said Thursday. “But the last two days were simply horrific and crossed every possible border of restraint and patience. Arafat must rectify his mistakes.”

By hitting the security forces closest to Arafat--without prior notice, according to the Israeli army--Sharon underscored his stated belief that the Palestinian leader is directly responsible for acts of terror. Sharon’s predecessor, Ehud Barak, carefully avoided making such a statement as he struggled unsuccessfully to quell the uprising.

On the surface, Sharon’s military response looks very much like measures taken by Barak, and it risks being similarly ineffective. Israeli analysts say the difference comes in the political context and the style and reputation of the new commander in chief.

Barak’s tendency to vacillate, to hand down and then ignore ultimatums and to continue negotiations even amid widespread strife eroded his credibility, analysts said. Sharon is trying to convey more resolve by refusing to open talks with Arafat until all violence stops.

“Sharon seems to indicate he has much more in store, and this is only the beginning unless Arafat changes his behavior,” said Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and a security advisor to Sharon. “It is a question of perceptions, and Sharon is perceived as more firm.”

At the same time, the prime minister risks getting dragged into the very bloody escalation that Israelis believe Arafat has been seeking.

On Thursday, Arafat’s Fatah movement in Gaza for the first time publicly threatened attacks within Israel--assaults that usually had been left to more radical groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. And other Palestinian factions insisted they would intensify their fight against Israeli might.

Sharon’s spokesman, Raanan Gissin, said the government’s goal is to return to the negotiating table with Arafat “or whoever their leader will be.” But no one believes that meaningful talks will happen soon.

In Ramallah, where almost every store and office was closed Thursday, hundreds turned out for a funeral for Dia Awil, the Hamas militant who blew himself up alongside the Jerusalem bus.

Awil, an engineering student at nearby Bir Zeit University, was well-known among classmates. He left a videotape behind, announcing that he was one of 12 suicide bombers who were happy to “turn our bodies and our bones into the shrapnel that will kill the occupiers.”

“I would not blow myself up,” said a classmate of Awil’s, Hamdi Hweih, a 21-year-old Chicago-born carpet salesman who attended the funeral. “But you have to say those guys got guts. It’s the only way to fight when you have no power.”