Israeli military blows up Palestinian apartments

In this story: Army levels several buildings Airport open only for Arafat U.N. condemns Israeli approach Israel demands return of soldiers West Bank shrine attacked RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

JERUSALEM -- Flexing its muscles in the rising Middle East crisis, Israel's army blasted apartment buildings Sunday in Gaza that have served as key vantage points for Palestinians firing on an Israeli outpost.

Military engineers brought the two buildings known as the Tall Towers down with explosives. The apartments overlook the Netzarim junction, an intersection that has become the focus of riots over the past 11 days and which leads to an isolated Jewish settlement.

VIDEO CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports on Israel's preparations for more hostilities (October 07) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Mike Hanna interviews Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat (October 07) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN.com reviews the day's events in the Middle East(October 07) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak calls on the Palestinians to end the violence (October 07) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     AUDIO Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak issues a deadline to Arafat 792k/72 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmad Qorei 850k/75 sec. AIFF or WAV sound     RESOURCES Click here to see pictures of the three captured Israeli soldiers     RESOURCES Israeli-Palestinian deaths since intifada View chart     ALSO U.N. Security Council passes Mideast resolution, U.S. abstains Clinton cancels trip to work on Middle East crisis     GALLERY   • Palestinians clashed with the Israeli Army Tuesday for a sixth day   • Israeli-Palestinian clashes   • Scenes from the fighting Sunday   • Holy site violence     TRANSCRIPT Read the transcript from Jerrold Kessel's online chat

In another show of force, the army sent attack helicopters into the West Bank village of Hebron, firing on hilltop positions used by Palestinians to shoot at a Jewish settler enclave there. Israeli troops also were moving to the north, near the border with Lebanon.

Sunday marks the 11th day of violence between Israeli troops and Palestinian rioters that has claimed the lives of at least 80 people and injured hundreds more. Alarm is growing in the international community that the fighting is about to surge out of control.

Other developments this weekend:

  •  Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak ordered the closure Sunday of the Palestinian airport in Gaza after gunmen fired on a bus carrying airport employees and security personnel.

  • The United Nations Security Council approved late Saturday a resolution condemning the use of excessive force "especially" against the Palestinians.

  • Barak issued of a 48-hour deadline for Palestinians to cease violent demonstrations.

  • Three Israeli soldiers have been captured by Hezbollah guerrillas.

Army levels several buildings

The Israeli army warned in a statement Sunday that Palestinians "must understand that any firing from a position on (Jewish settlements) or Israeli military forces turns (the position) into a target for attack or destruction."

Thousands of Palestinian demonstrators have tried to storm the Netzarim junction outpost. Israeli helicopters have previously fired rockets at the apartment buildings.

The military also destroyed another nearby building known as "the factory," and it cleared an area of several dozen yards (meters) around the fortified position to prevent attacks, the military said.

In Hebron, helicopters moved in before daybreak, targeting hilltop outcroppings in the Abu Sneineh neighborhood from which Palestinians have fired on one of the concentrations of Jewish settlers below.

Signaling the degree of its intent, the army also advised Palestinians living near the Jewish settlement of Psagot to leave their homes.

For several days, Palestinians have been firing at the settlement from the houses. An Israeli officer indicated he was prepared to direct tank fire at them.

Airport open only for Arafat

Nine passengers suffered injuries in the airport bus shooting, which occurred about midnight just as the bus was leaving the Rafah terminal linking Gaza to Egypt.

The bus carried security workers home from their shifts at the crossing and the terminal. An Israeli airport official interviewed by Israeli radio said the shots were fired from the direction of the airport.

An army communique said that because of the attack and the lack of trust created by the incident, Barak had decided to ban the entry of airport workers to the airport.

Under Barak's order, the airport was to remain closed to all planes but that of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. According to interim peace deals, Israel has overall responsibility for security at the airport, where officials said there are more than 20 flights weekly.

U.N. condemns Israeli violence

In New York, the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution condemning "excessive use of force" to try to quell ongoing violence, especially against the Palestinians. Fighting started after ultra-right Israeli lawmaker Ariel Sharon visited a Jerusalem shrine September 28 that Muslims call Haram As-Sharif.

The United States, while insisting that it objected to the anti-Israeli criticism, abstained from voting, which allowed the measure to pass.

The U.N. resolution called for an immediate resumption of the peace talks and supported "a speedy and objective inquiry" into the fighting.

The call for an inquiry was echoed in Jerusalem by chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat, who said he wanted Barak to withdraw a 48-hour "ultimatum" he issued Saturday and accept an international committee's probe into the last nine days of Mideast violence.

Palestinians have said Sharon's visit triggered the violent Palestinian backlash, although Israelis contend it was a mere pretext for violence that was already in the works.

Israel demands return of soldiers

Barak vowed Saturday that Israel would "spare no effort" to gain the release of three Israeli soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas along the Israel-Lebanon border. He said his nation would hold Syria and Lebanon responsible for the soldiers' safety.

The capture of the soldiers at the disputed Chebaa Farms in southern Lebanon came after Israeli troops, using live ammunition, opened fire Saturday on hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators converging on the Israeli-Lebanese border. Two protesters were killed and 17 were injured, Hezbollah sources told CNN.

Hezbollah indicated in a statement that it hopes to trade the captured Israeli soldiers for Lebanese being held in Israeli prisons. In a Lebanese television interview, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said, "We took Israelis prisoner in order to trade them -- there is no other solution."

Nasrallah added that the capture's other goal was to remind people that the Chebaa farms area is occupied Lebanese land.

Lebanese guerrillas last seized a member of Israel's armed forces in 1986, when Amal guerrillas captured airman Ron Arad after his jet fighter was shot down over Lebanon. He was later handed over to Hezbollah.

West Bank shrine attacked

Earlier Saturday, Palestinian rioters angrily set fire and ransacked parts of Joseph's Tomb, a shrine-turned-bunker in the West Bank town of Nablus. Demonstrators overran the site after Israel evacuated its troops from the area, a flashpoint in a week of bitter clashes.

The pre-dawn evacuation marked the first time Israel has relinquished territory as a direct result of Palestinian violence. One Israeli soldier was shot and wounded during the evacuation.

"We consider this a big victory," said Ali Farraj, a local Palestinian leader. "It cost us a lot of blood, and we feel proud of this victory." Six Palestinians and an Israeli border policeman have been killed in a week of daily gun battles at the site.

A top adviser to Barak said that Joseph's Tomb was simply not worth holding any longer and had become a liability.

"The question is, what interest did we ever have there," said Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh. "There was never a political or military or settlement justification to stay in Joseph's Tomb."

In announcing the evacuation, the Israeli army said Barak had extracted promises that Palestinian authorities would protect the site, which was home to a Jewish seminary where about 30 students studied during the day. The students have been barred from the site since gun battles began last weekend.

On Sunday, Erakat said Arafat had ordered the site be rebuilt.

CNN Jerusalem Bureau Chief Mike Hanna, CNN Correspondent Ben Wedeman, CNN Correspondent Jerrold Kessel, and the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Bus shooting caps turbulent day in Middle East
October 7, 2000
Israel closes Palestinian borders anticipating more violence
October 6, 2000
Gaza fighting subsides despite failure at talks
October 5, 2000
Arafat and Barak reach agreement to end violence
October 4, 2000
Paris talks will seek to defuse worsening Mideast violence
October 3, 2000
Paris talks called to stop Mideast violence
October 2, 2000
Clinton discusses Mideast violence with Israeli prime minister
October 1, 2000

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