JERUSALEM Ñ Israel is undergoing a new wave of Islamic attacks on what is said to be the eve of a U.S.-led attack on Saudi fugitive Osama Bin Laden.

Officials said they expect Palestinian insurgents aligned with Bin Laden to launch a wave of attacks on Israeli civilians and installations. They said this would include suicide attacks as well as shelling from Lebanon. "From this day on, we will count just on ourselves," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said. "We are entering a difficult confrontation. Israel will not be Czechoslovakia [in 1938]. Israel will fight terrorism."

Sharon, aides said, later relayed a similar message to the United States. In a conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, the aides said, Sharon asserted that Israel would no longer regard itself as being under any restraints of a ceasefire.

The aides said Sharon urged U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, currently on a Middle East tour, to visit Israel. Rumsfeld refused. On Thursday, a Palestinian gunman dressed as an Israeli soldier entered the central bus station of the northern Israeli city of Afula. The gunman opened fire on passengers.

The gunman killed three Israelis and wounded seven people. The gunman was killed by Israeli security forces.

Overnight Friday, Israeli and Palestinian forces fought in the West Bank city of Hebron. About 20 Israeli tanks entered a Palestinian-controlled neighborhood of Abu Sneina, used by Palestinian gunmen for attacks on Jewish homes below.

In the ensuing clash, Palestinian sources said, four Palestinians were killed. Several Palestinian buildings were also blown up.

Earlier, a Russian passenger jet that left from Israel was downed by a what U.S. officials described was a Ukrainian missile. All 66 passengers and 11 crew members were believed killed in the subsequent crash off the coast of the Black Sea.

A Russian National Security Council panel has determined that terrorists fired the missile toward the Israeli plane. The body has ruled out the prospect that the missile was fired accidentally during a Ukrainian military exercise. Ukraine has denied any involvement in the incident.

The destruction of the plane raised an alarm in Israel. Flights were cancelled, including one from Cairo to Tel Aviv that was to have brought an envoy of British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Israel. The envoy, Lord Michael Levy, arrived in a private plane.

Israeli airport authorities increased security measures in wake of the Sept. 11 Islamic suicide attacks on New York and Washington.

Print this Article

Email this article

Free Headline Alerts