TEL AVIV Ñ Military sources predicted new suicide bombings as the Israelis prepared to withdraw from West Bank cities without the capture of key leaders of the Palestinian insurgency.
Israel's military has begun to wind down the offensive in the West Bank
as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell prepares to meet Israeli and
Palestinian leaders. Powell is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Thursday and
is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Israeli officials and military sources said many Palestinians suspected
of being leaders in the insurgency war evaded capture during the 10-day
offensive. They said this included Marwan Barghouti, the leader of the Al
Aqsa Brigade, the umbrella group that led the Palestinian insurgency.
The result, officials said, is that Israel will encounter a new wave of
suicide-bombings. On Wednesday, a suspected Palestinian suicide-bomber blew
himself up on a passenger bus near the northern Israeli city of Haifa,. At
least eight people were killed in the blast.
The sources said Israel is expected to end its military offensive over
the next 48 hours without destroying Palestinian weapons factories and
warehouses believed located in West Bank villages that surround such cities
as Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah. They said Israeli forces are not expected to
raid Palestinian cities in the Gaza Strip, where thousands of armed
insurgents and weapons factories are located.
Israeli troops were also unable to destroy Palestinian insurgency
strongholds in Bethlehem, where a withdrawal had been ordered, the sources
said. They said troops are also being pulled out of Ramallah.
The sources said U.S. and international protests against the Israeli
military campaign prompted a decision to limit air strikes against
Palestinian insurgency strongholds. F-16 multi-role fighters, however, were
deployed against Palestinian targets in Jenin overnight Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Israel's military sustained heavy losses in the final stage
of its military campaign in the northern West Bank refugee camp of Jenin.
Fourteen soldiers were killed when they entered a booby-trapped enclosure
where 100 Palestinian insurgents detonated bombs and sprayed automatic
weapons fire.
In all, 23 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the Jenin operation,
which continued to meet heavy Palestinian resistance on Wednesday. Israeli
forces employed armored bulldozers to destroy buildings suspected of housing
insurgents.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces attacked Palestinian targets in Bet
Hanoun in what military sources said was an operation to destroy short-range
rockets and launchers. The mission lasted for several hours on Tuesday.
In Tel Aviv, Israeli defense chiefs have requested an emergency budget
allocation of three billion shekels [$635 million] to maintain the war
against the Palestinians. The chiefs, who included Defense Ministry
director-general Amos Yaron and senior military officers, said the
mobilization of 31,000 soldiers as well as the cost of ammunition, supplies
and equipment have depleted the budget.
Officials said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has pledged to provide two
billion shekels. They said Sharon is being urged by the Finance Ministry to
impose a special war tax to fill government coffers.
