Bomb destroys building near Arafat HQ
Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, May 1, 2001
RAMALLAH — A building near the headquarters of Palestinian Authority
Chairman Yasser Arafat has been destroyed by a bomb.
The two-story residential building was destroyed by a powerful bomb on
late Monday. PA security forces closed off the site and launched an
investigation.
The building was said to have served as a refuge for Palestinian
fugitives wanted by Israel.
At least one Palestinian was killed. Many others are said to be have
been buried under the rubble.
It was the second bombing in the PA areas on Monday evening. Earlier, a
bomb killed two Hamas members in Gaza City.
Meanwhile in Washington, The United States refused to place the Fatah
movement headed by Arafat on the State
Department list of terrorist organizations.
Instead, a State Department report released Monday quoted Israel as
accusing Fatah and Palestinian Authority security agencies of attacking
Israeli installations and bombing buses. The report, however, did not
explicitly confirm the Israeli assertion.
It was the first time the report cited a foreign source regarding
terrorist activities without placing those said to have carried out the
attacks on the State Department list of terrorist groups.
Fatah was taken off the State Department list of terrorist groups after
the Oslo accords in 1993. Congress has pressured the Bush administration to
return Palestinian groups to the list, which would ban any formal U.S.
contact with Arafat's movement.
Tuesday, May 1, 2001
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