On the eve of a U.S. peace mission to the Middle East, Israeli troops stepped up their pressure on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Wednesday despite increasing criticism from the United States and United Nations about their tactics.
The second full day of Israel’s operation in Ramallah claimed the lives of one Palestinian officer, an Israeli soldier and an Italian photojournalist.
Ramallah’s largely deserted streets turned into battlefields around breakfast time as tanks and armored personnel carriers rumbled in. Later, Israeli troops advanced to Ramallah’s center square and dozens of tanks patrolled the city.
In Washington, President Bush offered his most direct criticism yet of crackdowns on Palestinians by Ariel Sharon’s government.
“Frankly, it is not helpful what the Israelis have recently done,” Bush said. “I understand somebody trying to defend themselves … but the recent actions are not helpful.”
He urged Israelis and Palestinians to “work hard to create conditions for a potential settlement” when U.S. mediator Anthony Zinni returns to the region on Thursday to try to arrange a cease-fire in the 17-month-old intifada.
On another diplomatic front, Palestinians cautiously welcomed a UN Security Council resolution endorsing, for the first time, a Palestinian state and demanding an immediate cease-fire. Israel praised parts of the measure but did not comment directly on the statehood issue.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York urged the Israelis and Palestinians to heed the call to stop fighting. He said he believed the resolution, coming with “the strong support of the U.S., will send a powerful message.”
Cheney, Zinni in region
Meanwhile, Vice President Dick Cheney, in Egypt as part of an 11-nation tour of the Middle East, said Israelis and Palestinians share the burden of ending the violence.
The United States plans “to do everything we can to persuade both parties it’s time for the violence to end,” Cheney said in a news conference with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
Cheney came to the Middle East seeking support for tougher action against Iraq. But the vice president, who will arrive in Jerusalem next week, is finding his efforts overshadowed by the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. As of Wednesday, Cheney had not ruled out engaging in joint peace appeals with Zinni in Israel, a senior administration official said.
Zinni is scheduled to arrive in Jerusalem on Thursday. The former Marine general failed in two previous missions to broker a cease-fire in the Palestinian uprising, which began in September 2000.
No letup seen in Ramallah
Zinni returns to the Middle East in the midst of an accelerated army operation that Israeli officials say is aimed at thwarting terrorist attacks on civilians and quelling militant activities in refugee camps across the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian leaders accuse Israeli soldiers themselves of terrorizing Palestinian civilians.
On Wednesday, tensions erupted among the Israeli political elite over the wisdom of continuing the military campaign during Zinni’s visit. According to Israeli media reports, Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer planned to halt the attacks in Ramallah, the most important Palestinian-run city, before Zinni’s arrival.
In a stormy Cabinet session, Sharon said Ben-Eliezer, leader of the center-left Labor Party, would violate government policy by easing military pressure on the Palestinians. Both men, after a private session, agreed the military activity would continue.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told Reuters that the continued incursion in Ramallah would undermine Zinni’s efforts.
“A cease-fire is impossible as long as [Israelis] are occupying Ramallah and as long as they are putting snipers on the roofs of buildings in the city to kill and target civilians,” he said.
Fuad Obeidy, the deputy commander of the Palestinian security service Force 17, which answers directly to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, was killed by Israeli tank fire Wednesday in Ramallah, Palestinian sources said. A 21-year-old Israeli soldier also was killed, Israeli media reported.
Later in the day, three Apache attack helicopters fired machine guns toward gunmen in Ramallah, wounding seven Palestinians, according to medical reports. Tanks also reportedly surrounded two hospitals, keeping away ambulances and medical professionals in the West Bank city.
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Hospitals’ power cut off
Doctors said the army cut off water and electricity to the hospitals. Israeli military said the shutdown of essential utilities was a mistake and they were working with Palestinian officials to repair the damage.
Early Wednesday, Italian photojournalist Raffaele Ciriello, 42, was killed during a firefight. The Israeli army said it could not immediately determine whether Israelis or Palestinians had struck him, but witnesses near Ciriello at the time of the attack said Israeli machine-gun fire struck him in the abdomen.
Ciriello, a freelancer with extensive experience working in conflict zones, was following Palestinian gunmen through downtown Ramallah when Israeli forces fired on them from 150 yards, a colleague told The Washington Post.
“They were aiming at us–not as journalists, but they were definitely aiming at us,” Amedeo Ricci told the newspaper. “The burst of fire was very accurate, they were definitely aiming at Raffaele.”
Paris-based media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders said it was “appalled” by the death and demanded an inquiry. In separate incidents in Ramallah on Wednesday, an Egyptian television journalist was lightly wounded and a French journalist was shot in the leg.
Wednesday evening, two Palestinians stabbed an Israeli husband and wife in the tiny Jewish settlement of Nachliel, on the West Bank north of Ramallah. The husband was in critical condition. The assailants escaped.