_______ ____ ______ / |/ / /___/ / /_ // M I D - E A S T R E A L I T I E S / /|_/ / /_/_ / /\\ Making Sense of the Middle East /_/ /_/ /___/ /_/ \\ http://www.MiddleEast.Org News, Information, & Analysis That Governments, Interest Groups, and the Corporate Media Don't Want You To Know! * * * * * * * IF YOU DON'T GET MER, YOU JUST DON'T GET IT! To receive MER regularly email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ISRAELIS ATTACK, WARNING ARAFAT REGIME FURTHER EGYPTIANS RECALL AMBASSADOR "At the headquarter of Force 17, Arafat's security guard, the Palestinian leader's office was gutted, as were an arms depot and a foyer. 'Seventy percent of the headquarters was destroyed,' lamented one officer. Ironically, in the building's courtyard, in the middle of a peaceful little garden, a statue of Arafat with his arm raised was left unscathed." IDF BOMBS P.A. TARGETS Arutz-7, Jerusalem, Nov 21: The IDF successfully bombed nine Palestinian Authority targets in Gaza yesterday evening, including headquarters of Muhammad Dahlan's Preventive Security, Fatah, and Force 17, as well as Palestinian television buildings. Barak's aide Gilad Sher said that Israel gave the PA advance warning of the targeted buildings. Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that the attack did not involve even "one-thousandth of the force we could have used." In addition, Israeli forces took over an area a few kilometers wide, effectively cutting the Gaza Strip into two. Arab workers were not allowed to come to work near the Erez Checkpoint today; they rioted at first, but then dispersed. Likud leader Ariel Sharon said that last night's retaliatory attack by the IDF was a positive development, although it "should have come earlier." He strongly implied that Muhammad Dahlan, who is widely considered to be behind many of the terrorist attacks, should be targeted and killed. Maj.-Gen. (res.) Oren Shachor - a confidante of Shimon Peres, a participant in diplomatic talks with the Palestinians during the Netanyahu government, and former Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea and Samaria, said today that he, too, is against the policy of restraint. SHELL-SHOCKED GAZA STRIP WAKES UP TO DEVASTATION GAZA CITY, 21 Nov (AFP) - Residents of the Gaza Strip woke up in shock Tuesday, a day after Israel subjected them to one of the worst air assaults against the territories since the start of the intifida uprising, nearly eight weeks ago. The two-hour pummelling of Gaza City and other targets in the Palestinian-run area was in retaliation for a bomb attack which killed two Jewish settlers earlier in the day, and triggered a wave of panic and hysteria in homes and in the streets. When the rockets started flying, many people lunged down several flights of stairs into a dark void, after all power had been cut off. The city's main Al Shifa hospital treated many of the 120 people wounded during the raid, which also left one Palestinian dead. "Most of them have sprained ankles or fractures: during the general hysteria, people started jumping off their floors down the stairs....all this in the dark," Mohammed Al Tawil, the hospital's medical director said. "When the bombardment began, we were in the car. My husband then shut off his headlights. We couldn't see anything, the flash from the missiles was blinding us. Then another car arrived, and there was shock," said Sadia Siam, whose nose was broken and face badly bruised from the accident. Most of the injured were woman and children whose injuries were relatively minor, the doctor explained, while other Palestinians in better shape launched defiant protests across the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Several residential buildings were hit, but Israeli helicopters and airships unleashed most of their rockets at the Palestinian security services and offices of leader Yasser Arafat's political and militia faction, Fatah. At the headquarter of Force 17, Arafat's security guard, the Palestinian leader's office was gutted, as were an arms depot and a foyer. "Seventy percent of the headquarters was destroyed," lamented one officer. Ironically, in the building's courtyard, in the middle of a peaceful little garden, a statue of Arafat with his arm raised was left unscathed. At Fatah headquarters, curious residents were milling around the debris. Ziad, 28-years-old, gazed at the damage. "There is no other solution but to continue the resistance," he said. Several rooms were left naked after one facade of the building was completely blown apart, while floors were perforated with holes. "We were not informed ahead of time (of the attacks) but as soon as the Israeli helicopters started swirling, we went outside. Five minutes later, it started," said the head of security, Haidar Kashtar, who counted six missiles had been launched at the site. Bomb disposal experts picked up remnants of explosive devices "for their archives," one of them said, after having found one that had not yet exploded. At the Palestinian preventative security unit, children were proudly displaying bits and pieces picked up from missiles. The building was hit by about two dozen missiles, according to 22-year-old Rami Shoueh, whose house windows next door were blown apart from the nearby blasts. "It was a surprise. People were running in every direction in the streets, as far away as they could," said Shoueh, who saw "blue bursts of light" after the electricity went down. "The children started to scream, we didn't even have time to dress them. We left," his mother, Naima, explained. The Gaza Strip was counting other losses. The Palestinian television headquarters on top of a hill in Gaza City lost one of its emitters and several parts of the building were damaged after the pounding. In all, 15 Palestinian security sites were struck, along with two Fatah buildings, three television and radio stations, 10 homes, and the building of the Jordanian representative to the territorie MiD-EasT RealitieS - www.MiddleEast.Org Phone: 202 362-5266 Fax: 815 366-0800 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscriibe email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with subject SUBSCRIBE To unsubscribe email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with subject UNSUBSCRIBE
