MIDDLE EAST: Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopters besieged a Palestinian prison in the West Bank town of Jericho for 10 hours yesterday, forcing five Palestinians involved in the assassination of an Israeli cabinet minister to give themselves up.
Palestinians furious at the decision by the US and Britain to remove their monitors at the prison - the move that sparked the Israeli raid - began abducting foreigners in the occupied territories and torched the British Council building in the Gaza Strip. Fearing for their safety, dozens of foreigners fled Gaza into Israel.
At about 9am, after hearing of the departure of the US and British monitors, large numbers of Israeli troops poured into Jericho and surrounded the jail in an effort to prevent six of the inmates from going free. The most senior figure is Ahmed Sa'adat, the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who was being held along with four of his accomplices in the assassination of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi, in a Jerusalem hotel in 2001.
The sixth man sought by Israel and also held in the prison was Fuad Shobaki, the alleged mastermind behind an illegal weapons shipment to the Palestinian Authority in 2002. The US and British monitors had been stationed in the prison as part of a compromise between Israel and the Palestinian Authority whereby Mr Ze'evi's killers were to be kept behind bars in Jericho.
In an effort to force some 200 inmates and Palestinian policemen inside the prison to surrender, the Israeli military fired tank shells and machine-gun fire at the compound, and used bulldozers to knock down the walls of the prison. In the early afternoon, dozens of inmates and policemen began emerging from the building in their underwear and with their arms raised.
Palestinian officials said that a prison guard and an inmate were killed in the raid. With darkness descending on Jericho, the six men surrendered to Israeli troops after a senior Palestinian officer and his men inside the prison gave themselves up.
The six were transferred last night to an Israeli detention facility.
Infuriated by the Israeli raid, Palestinian militants in Gaza began abducting foreigners, including a Swiss employee of the Red Cross, who was later released. Two French aid workers and two South Korean journalists were also abducted in Gaza, as was an American English professor in the West Bank city of Jenin. At least nine foreigners were kidnapped in the course of yesterday.
US and British officials blamed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for the stand-off at the prison. British foreign secretary Jack Straw told the House of Commons that Britain and the US had repeatedly complained to the Palestinian Authority about security problems at the prison and the safety of their monitors. The Palestinian Authority, Mr Straw said, "has consistently failed to meet its obligations" to provide security. "Ultimately, the safety of our personnel has to take precedence. . . These conditions have not been met, and we have terminated our involvement with the mission today."
However, Mr Abbas, who cut short his visit to Europe, said the US and Britain were to blame. On March 7th, Mr Abbas had said he was willing to release Mr Sa'adat, but only if the PFLP was willing to accept responsibility for his fate - a hint that Israel might target him once he was free.
With Israelis set to go to the polls in two weeks' time, the raid also has political significance. It is likely to boost the standing of acting prime minister Ehud Olmert. It also forced his political rivals to line up behind him in backing the move.
While the leader of the centre-left Labour Party, Amir Peretz, praised the army and government for a "determined response", the leader of the centre-right Likud, Benjamin Netanyahu, described the military operation as "the right step that demonstrates that no prize should be given to terror".
The military action could also set the tone for relations between Israel and Hamas, which is expected to form a government in the coming weeks. The Islamic movement does not recognise Israel.