Israeli Operation Engulfs Ramallah Without a Battle
Israeli tanks and troops surrounded Yasir Arafat's battered compound at dawn this morning, extending the shutdown of nearly all of the Palestinian West Bank, as President Bush's advisers said he was tentatively planning to announce his new Mideast policy — including a path to creating a Palestinian state — this afternoon at the White House.

…more than 100 Israeli armored vehicles were seen moving into Ramallah, the Palestinian intellectual, political and commercial capital, expanding an operation that has left more than 600,000 people confined to their homes in the cities of Nablus, Qalqilya, Jenin, Tulkarm and Bethlehem.

It was unclear whether the latest Israeli action would once again force the White House to put off Mr. Bush's speech, which has been the subject of constant debate among his national security team. The suicide bombings last week, and Israel's reaction, have reopened a long-simmering discussion about how quickly Mr. Bush should advocate moving toward the broad goal of creating a state called Palestine, and what kind of conditions he should declare that the Palestinians must meet before that state would come fully into existence, with defined borders and a seat at the United Nations.

In Ramallah, the Israelis were reported to be tightly gathered around Mr. Arafat's compound, much of which lies in ruins from earlier Israeli attacks. A Palestinian official inside the compound said at 6 a.m. that there had been no gunfire.

Armored bulldozers were pushing rubble barricades high enough around the headquarters to effectively lock Mr. Arafat inside, witnesses said, and Israeli riflemen had taken up sniper positions in some parts of the ruined buildings. Apache attack helicopters flew overhead, firing in at least two places. Several explosions were heard. Loudspeakers atop the armored vehicles warned the city's population, about 55,000 people, to stay indoors.

The move into Ramallah came at 4 this morning, after a day in which the Israeli Army called up a brigade of reservists to bolster its forces in the West Bank and the government struggled with a number of strategies to stem the tide of suicide bombers, ranging from building a wall to deporting bombers' families.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of reoccupying the West Bank, scrapping the Oslo peace accords, under which limited control of parts of the West Bank and Gaza was transferred to the Palestinians, and preparing to reimpose the old Civil Administration — actually military rule — that existed before Oslo.

"It is their fatal mistake, to reoccupy again these Palestinian territories," Mr. Arafat said in Ramallah on Sunday. "They are agreeing to cancel what was agreed upon from Oslo until now."

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said: "It is obvious the Israeli government is resuming fully its occupation. We have been saying this is the endgame of Sharon for many months."

But Israeli officials insisted that they had no intention of assuming the politically loaded and costly burden of maintaining services like garbage collection, electricity and water in the Palestinian areas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/24/international/middleeast/24MIDE.html