Shooting erupted near the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem and Israeli tanks ploughed into the West Bank's biggest city yesterday as Israel vowed to pursue its offensive.
Three explosions and heavy machinegun fire echoed around Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, on the site where Christ was said to have been born, but Israel denied it was trying to storm the church to winkle out some 200 Palestinians holed up inside.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Israeli armor thrust toward the heart of Nablus, the biggest West Bank city, meeting heavy resistance, and tanks shelled a nearby refugee camp, witnesses said. Troops also fought running battles in the northern city of Jenin.
The Israeli offensive, launched last Friday after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 26 Israelis, has enraged Arabs and provoked deep concern around the world that Middle East violence may be sliding out of control. Israel's closest ally, the US, has apparently been reluctant to intervene.
Two top EU envoys arrived in Israel on an urgent mission to press for a ceasefire.
But Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon slamned the door to their meeting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, besieged at his West Bank headquarters since Friday, and said Israel's military drive to uproot "terror" would continue.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique were due to meet Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer as well as international peace mediators later yesterday, diplomats said.
"The decision is that [Arafat] will stay in the place where he is and he will be isolated," Sharon told reporters after a late-night meeting of his security Cabinet.
Sharon said peace talks with Palestinians would resume only "when there will be a full cessation of terror, hostilities and incitement."
He also accused Syria and Iran of being responsible for recent cross-border attacks by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and threatened to take "all actions" required to prevent them.
Syrian troops took up new positions in eastern Lebanon yesterday in what diplomats saw as an attempt to lessen direct confrontation with Israel, which last year hit Syrian troops twice in Lebanon in retaliation for Hezbollah attacks.
"We saw that Syria is giving support and backing to what is going on," Sharon said during a visit to the Northern Command headquarters, a day after a soldier was seriously wounded in a Hezbollah attack on an Israeli border position.
Sharon was due to meet US Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni later in the day and Israeli political sources said the Israeli leader might give Zinni the go-ahead to meet Arafat.
Palestinian officials said the EU envoys, despatched after an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers, must be granted access to Arafat, or no other Palestinians would meet them.
Palestinians say Sharon's offensive aims to oust or kill Arafat, destroy his Palestinian Authority, scrap interim peace deals signed since 1993 and block their hopes of independence. Israel says it will not harm the Palestinian leader.
At the UN, Arab nations vowed late on Wednesday to push to a Security Council vote a draft resolution demanding the withdrawal of Israeli forces from West Bank towns.
The measure appeared to be unacceptable to Israel's main ally, the US. US envoys, who earlier threatened a veto, said only that Washington was now studying it. The council agreed to delay a vote until later yesterday for more consultations.
In the Bethlehem clash, Palestinian officials quoted men inside the Church of the Nativity, one of Christianity's holiest sites, as saying Israeli forces had blown the back door off, but the army denied the report.
A correspondent about 500m from the church heard gunfire and loud explosions, but could not say what caused the blasts or where the firing was aimed.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said: "Israeli soldiers did not fire any weapons or cause any explosions or storm the church."
Bethlehem resembled a ghost town, where fearful residents peeked from their windows at Israeli tanks and armored vehicles lurking in streets littered with debris and mangled cars.
Peter Qumri, director of a hospital in the nearby town of Beit Jala, said Samir Salman, 45, had been shot dead as he crossed Manger Square on his way to the Church of the Nativity yesterday.
Qumri said ambulance workers had retrieved seven bodies since troops stormed into Bethlehem on Tuesday, adding that he believed at least five more cor-pses remained to be collected.
Tropical Storm Gaemi strengthened into a typhoon at 2pm yesterday, and could make landfall in Yilan County tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The agency was scheduled to issue a sea warning at 11:30pm yesterday, and could issue a land warning later today. Gaemi was moving north-northwest at 4kph, carrying maximum sustained winds near its center of up to 118.8kph and gusts of 154.8kph. The circumference is forecast to reach eastern Taiwan tomorrow morning, with the center making landfall in Yilan County later that night before departing from the north coast, CWA weather forecaster Kuan Shin-ping (官欣平) said yesterday. Uncertainty remains and
SEA WARNING LIKELY: The storm, named Gaemi, could become a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, with the Taipei City Government preparing for flooding A tropical depression east of the Philippines developed into a tropical storm named Gaemi at 2pm yesterday, and was moving toward eastern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Gaemi could begin to affect Taiwan proper on Tuesday, lasting until Friday, and could develop into a moderate typhoon on Wednesday or Thursday, it said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued as early as Tuesday morning, it added. Gaemi, the third tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean this typhoon season, is projected to begin moving northwest today, and be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday, the agency said. Today, there would likely
DISRUPTIONS: The high-speed rail is to operate as normal, while several airlines either canceled flights or announced early departures or late arrivals Schools and offices in 15 cities and counties are to be closed today due to Typhoon Gaemi, local governments announced last night. The 15 are: Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Tainan, Keelung, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, as well as Yilan, Hualien, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang counties. People should brace for torrential rainfall brought by the storm, with its center forecast to make landfall on the east coast between tonight and tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The agency issued a sea warning for the typhoon at 11:30pm on Monday, followed by a land warning at 11:30am yesterday. As of
CASUALTY: A 70-year-old woman was killed by a falling tree in Kaohsiung as the premier warned all government agencies to remain on high alert for the next 24 hours Schools and offices nationwide are to be closed for a second day today as Typhoon Gaemi crosses over the nation, bringing torrential rain and whipping winds. Gaemi was forecast to make landfall late last night. From Tuesday night, its outer band brought substantial rainfall and strong winds to the nation. As of 6:15pm last night, the typhoon’s center was 20km southeast of Hualien County, Central Weather Administration (CWA) data showed. It was moving at 19kph and had a radius of 250km. As of 3pm yesterday, one woman had died, while 58 people were injured, the Central Emergency Operation Center said. The 70-year-old