Norway announced today that it recognized the Palestinians\' right to throw rocks and open fire against Israeli forces in Judea and Samaria. The Yesha Council calls on Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to recall Israel\'s Ambassador in Oslo immediately, as they render the blood of Israeli soldiers and residents in Yesha \"worthless.\"
U.S. President Bush said this morning that there must be an end to the circle of violence in the Middle East, but that \"the U.S. will not force a solution on the sides, and this is why we vetoed the proposal to send international observers.\" Earlier, the White House had again called upon Yasser Arafat to issue a public statement condemning terrorist attacks in Israel, and to take the necessary steps to apprehend terrorists and end the ongoing wave of terrorism. The Americans also called upon Israel to \'act with restraint\' and relax restrictions imposed on PA residents.
Egypt and Jordan were also reportedly notified of the Israeli bombings in advance. The PA correctly guessed that the attack would occur, and began evacuating its Force 17 forces yesterday afternoon. The Prime Minister\'s Office later announced that the U.S. was not notified before the attack.
Yesterday evening\'s Israeli attack on Palestinian targets included combat helicopter fire at a Force 17 facility in Ramallah and four Force 17 stations in Gaza. Contrary to false PA reports, there was no assault against targets in Hevron. The four Gaza targets included a storage facility, a training base, and an armored vehicle - all of Arafat\'s personal Force 17, which has been behind much of the Palestinian terrorism of recent weeks. Government spokesmen said that last night\'s attacks were just the beginning of a long campaign of warfare against terrorist targets. The IDF Spokesman said, “We believe that the time has come for Force 17, which has an official standing in the PA, to take responsibility for acts of terror perpetrated by its forces or attacks planned and endorsed by its commanders… This is a signal to anyone with eyes in his head and the ability to understand that we are unwilling to endure this wave of violence… We endured eight attacks in the period of a week that resulted in three fatalities and 47 injuries. We believe this is enough!\"
Commentator Alex Fishman of Yediot Acharonot was not very impressed with Israel\'s attack last night. His front-page byline today explained,
\"The government yesterday broke its policy of restraint by launching missiles of silk, that were aimed primarily at domestic public opinion. These missiles will not stop the next suicide bomber or car bomb. If this almost sterile \'first course\' has any significance, it is mostly symbolic in nature - of transition from a policy of restraint to one of attack. And this too is an accomplishment… The terrorist attack yesterday in which two yeshiva students were murdered, the anger in the streets, the frustration and fear gripping the public, and the concern for losing control over groups of \'settlers\' - pushed the Prime Minister to cut short his policy of restraint and order the army to carry out an alternative military action with moderation… [It] fell far from shocking the other side and failed to project to the Arabs a sense that there are new rules and a new policy. Thus even after the air strikes Arafat was able to smile to reporters: Sharon has entered onto the trail that Arafat has pulled him to, without the \'Palestinians\' needing to pay too high of a price. They got off relatively easy: 60 injured, 2 dead and two armored vehicles burned.\"