Israeli ships shell P.L.O.

Press, 10 December 1983, Page 10

Israeli ships shell P.L.O.

NZPA-Reuter Tel Aviv

Israeli gunboats had bombarded a Palestinian guerrilla base belonging to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah wing near the north Lebanese port of Tripoli yesterday, the Army said.

The base was about a kilometre north of Tripoli, where Mr Arafat’s forces have been battling Syrianbacked Palestine Liberation Organisation rebels. According to the army, the Arafat base was surrounded by earthworks and included buildings, tents and vehicles. Arafat aides in Tripoli said that they had been expecting an Israeli attack since Tuesday, when they claimed responsibility for the bomb attack which killed four people and wounded 43 in an Israeli bus in Jerusalem. One of his spokesmen said that Mr Arafat and his 4000 loyalist guerrillas could leave Tripoli as early as Wednesday. Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, said yesterday that they would set sail for Tunis and North Yemen, “maybe (next) Thursday, maybe Friday, maybe Wednesday.” France and Greece had agreed to provide warships as escort, he said. Mr Arafat had requested the escort because of fears that the Israeli Navy would intercept the guerrillas as they left.

The withdrawal is due to take place within 13 days under an agreement between the loyalists and Syrian-backed Palestinian rebels who advanced to the edges of Tripoli in heavy fighting last month.

The Greek Government said yesterday that it had secured several vessels to remove the guerrillas and was awaiting authorisation from the United Nations to sail for Tripoli.

The United Nations Secre-

tary-General, Mr Javier Perez de Cuellar, yesterday turned down an Israeli request to withdraw permission for the P.L.O. to sail under the symbolic protection of the United Nations flag.

Israel is outraged about the bomb explosion on Tuesday.

The Israeli Army hunted yesterday for Jewish settlers suspected of shooting dead an 11-year-old Palestinian girl in the occupied West Bank town of Nablus.

The attackers had opened fire on Palestinian children who were stoning their car and sped away before soldiers appeared on the scene, radio reports said. The girl was shot in the chest. Her nine-year-old sister, shot in the face, was in a serious condition, hospital officials said.

The incident appeared likely to arouse fresh controversy over the use of arms by Israeli settlers in the territories.

Many settlers receive Army-issued guns for protection and are empowered, after first firing warning shots into the air, to shoot in self-defence if in mortal danger. Israeli television, reporting from an Army blockade on the West Bank, said that soldiers were stopping cars bearing Israeli licence plates in search of two suspects. Eye-witnesses told the Army that the attackers appeared to be settlers. One had been wearing an Israeli Army uniform when he stepped out of the car and fired his Uzi sub-machine-gun, said the television report.

About 22,000 Jewish settlers have moved on to the West Bank, leading to frequent clashes with the 800,000-strong Palestinian community which has lived under Israeli rule for 16 years.