Palestinian areas hit by general strike

A poster of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is seen in the debris at the destroyed Palestinian prison compound, blasted by Israeli forces yesterday in the West Bank town of Jericho yesterday. The Israeli government strenuously denied today that an army raid on a Palestinian Authority-run prison less than a fortnight before a general election was motivated by political considerations. PHOTO: AFP

Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas was en route home after cutting short a tour of key European cities to manage the crisis sparked by Israel's capture of PFLP leader Ahmed Saadat and five other wanted militants in Jericho.

Businesses remained shuttered and schools closed across the Gaza Strip and West Bank after all Palestinian factions united to order a strike late Tuesday.

Palestinian security forces, ordered to respond with live fire to attacks against Western interests, remained on high alert after the Israeli operation sparked an unprecedented wave of security anarchy.

Two Palestinian security guards were killed and 26 others wounded, five of them critically, in the Israeli assault that ended with its aim: the capture of Saadat, four other PFLP cohorts and wanted Fatah member Fuad Shubaki.

The Israeli government strenuously denied that the raid -- less than a fortnight before a general election -- was motivated by political considerations, but kept security forces on high alert.

"Thousands of police officers, border guards and volunteers have been mobilised in sensitive areas of Israeli territory," police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld told AFP.

Security was also beefed up around foreign interests, notably British and American offices, after Anglo-US targets suffered the brunt of unrest that inflamed the Palestinian territories on Tuesday.

A senior Palestinian official said that Abbas, in Jordan for talks with Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit, would demand Israel hand Saadat and his colleagues back to their former custody arrangements immediately.

"We will ask the Israeli side to hand back Ahmed Saadat and his colleagues immediately," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said.

Saadat and three other PFLP members had been kept in Jericho under US and British supervision, since August 2002 after his militant faction claimed the 2001 killing of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi.

"When Abu Mazen returns he will meet with the Palestinian leadership to discuss what happened yesterday at all levels and how the Palestinian Authority will conduct their policy after the Israeli attack on Jericho," Erakat said.