World News 04-12-2001 Israel Declares Its Own "War On Terror" who: Ariel Sharon what: Orders helicopter gunship strikes on Yasser Arafat`s presidential guard where: GAZA when: Yesterday snippet: After a weekend of Palestinian terror attacks was followed yesterday by Israeli military strikes, The Mirror portrays Israel`s prime minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as squabbling schoolboys with the headline "It`s all HIS fault..HE started it". "The Middle East plunged into bloody new conflict last night," writes David Pilditch from Jerusalem, "with Israel and the Palestinians blaming each other... Ariel Sharon told his grieving nation: `Arafat chose the way of terror` and warned that the terrorists will pay the price. The Palestinians said there would be no end to the bloodshed until Israel stopped its attacks." Mr Sharon ordered Apache helicopter gunships to attack Mr Arafat`s presidential guard in Gaza and destroyed two of his helicopters. He called his enemy "the main obstacle to peace and stability in the Middle East" and signalled a new War on Terror as he promised: "Those who rise up against us to kill us are responsible for their own destruction." The Telegraph`s leader suggests that there is no chance that the recommendations of the Mitchell report could ever reverse the downward spiral of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Times reports on an opinion poll in a Hebrew daily newspaper which said yesterday that 37 per cent of Israelis would support military action to topple Mr Arafat while The Independent says that the Palestinian leader is trying to placate the Israelis by ordering the arrest of dozens of known militants. [... more]

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