Buildings blown up as Israelis aim attack at Arafat

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Israeli forces blew up three buildings in Yasser Arafat's headquarters and shelled his master bedroom on Thursday, in what Israel said was part of a series of reprisals for the killing of 17 Israelis in a car bomb attack.

The fiery attack, in which an 18-year-old suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car alongside an Israeli bus and blew it up, led to two Israeli incursions and a promise of more -- a cycle that threatened to torpedo renewed international efforts to put an end to more than 20 months of Mideast violence.

Israeli forces patrolled along the southern edge of Bethlehem this morning but did not enter the town, the military said.

In contrast to a monthlong siege that ended May 2, Thursday's incursion into Arafat's office compound in Ramallah lasted only a few hours. Israeli tanks and giant bulldozers smashed a huge hole in the outside wall of the city-block-size compound and destroyed three buildings inside, including the military intelligence headquarters.

An Israeli shell or rocket crashed into Arafat's sleeping quarters, about five feet from his bed -- prompting Arafat to accuse the Israelis of trying to kill him.

Pointing to his dust-covered bed, broken bedroom mirror and shattered bathroom tiles, Arafat said: "I was supposed to sleep here last night, but I had some work downstairs. Of course the Israelis knew where I was. Everybody knows this is my bedroom."

An Israeli army spokesman, Capt. Jacob Dallal, denied Arafat was the target. "If there had been any intention of harming Arafat, it would not have been a problem," Dallal said.

At the United Nations, the Palestinians demanded international condemnation of the Israeli attack and immediate Security Council intervention to end such incursions. The letter from Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. observer, made no mention of the suicide bombing.

Also Thursday, Israeli forces entered Beituniya, a suburb of Ramallah, and arrested six men, including a suspected leader of the radical Islamic group Hamas. Palestinians and Israeli forces exchanged fire during the brief incursion.

Israeli forces left Nablus after a weeklong operation to arrest suspected terrorists and confiscate weapons and explosives.

An Israeli motorist was killed in a shooting in the West Bank on Thursday, a hospital official said. He was identified as an 18-year-old high school student from the Jewish settlement of Ofra, between Ramallah and Nablus.

After the bombing Wednesday, Israeli forces briefly entered Jenin, where the teen-age bomber, Hamza Samudi, came from. The extremist Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.