The IDF offensive continued this morning with helicopter attacks on PA police buildings in Ramallah, Gaza, and Salfit (south of Ariel). Four missiles were fired in Ramallah at a building practically next door to Arafat\'s office. Other targets included two Force 17 headquarters in Gaza and one in Tul Karem, military intelligence headquarters in Salfit, and others. The targets were practically empty of people, who left yesterday in fear of Israeli reprisals.
The IDF entered PA-controlled areas around Ramallah, Shechem, and Tul Karem last night, following its entry the night before into Jenin. The army also destroyed the Gaza airport runway used by PLO leader Yasser Arafat, after destroying two of his helicopters. Both of these moves are considered largely symbolic, as the airport has not been used for over a year.
Arabs fired at Beit Haggai today, south of Gush Etzion, and fired two mortar shells at a Jewish town in Gaza.
Ha\'aretz reported today that PA officials phoned Foreign Minister Peres last night, asking for a \"four-day grace period\" in which to \"carry out arrests and take other steps against terror.\" Peres responded \"firmly,\" according to reporters Amira Hass and Aluf Benn, asking, \"How can we know that this time you\'re serious?\" Hass and Benn write that the PA officials replied that they are \"rounding up terrorists in a major sweep,\" and asked Israel not to topple the PA in a military action. Correspondent Haggai Huberman, author of a weekly column in HaTzofeh entitled \"What\'s Going On With the Palestinians,\" said today that he is skeptical about the veracity of this report:
\"The PA is engaged in a desperate propaganda war in order to save itself, and Amira Hass is known as a trumpeter of PA propaganda... What have they [the PA] done over the *last* four days? It\'s all been only a show: PA agents come at night, with stocking-covered faces and television projector lights, to make some \'arrests\' ... Even the Hamas announcements against the PA\'s \'caving-in\' to Israel - it\'s all a show.\"
The IDF entered PA-controlled areas around Ramallah, Shechem, and Tul Karem last night, following its entry the night before into Jenin. The army also destroyed the Gaza airport runway used by PLO leader Yasser Arafat, after destroying two of his helicopters. Both of these moves are considered largely symbolic, as the airport has not been used for over a year.
Arabs fired at Beit Haggai today, south of Gush Etzion, and fired two mortar shells at a Jewish town in Gaza.
Ha\'aretz reported today that PA officials phoned Foreign Minister Peres last night, asking for a \"four-day grace period\" in which to \"carry out arrests and take other steps against terror.\" Peres responded \"firmly,\" according to reporters Amira Hass and Aluf Benn, asking, \"How can we know that this time you\'re serious?\" Hass and Benn write that the PA officials replied that they are \"rounding up terrorists in a major sweep,\" and asked Israel not to topple the PA in a military action. Correspondent Haggai Huberman, author of a weekly column in HaTzofeh entitled \"What\'s Going On With the Palestinians,\" said today that he is skeptical about the veracity of this report:
\"The PA is engaged in a desperate propaganda war in order to save itself, and Amira Hass is known as a trumpeter of PA propaganda... What have they [the PA] done over the *last* four days? It\'s all been only a show: PA agents come at night, with stocking-covered faces and television projector lights, to make some \'arrests\' ... Even the Hamas announcements against the PA\'s \'caving-in\' to Israel - it\'s all a show.\"