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A senior Hamas member, Riad Kalipha, was killed yesterday in a combined IDF and Shin Bet operation near Ramallah. Kalipha – described by security sources as a "ticking bomb" – was involved in terror attacks against Israelis, and was in the midst of planning an attack in the coming days.

Palestinian sources report that the body of Ibrahim Hamed was found amongst the ruins of a building destroyed in Ramallah Monday as part of the IDF's 'Operation New Momentum' against the West Bank city's Hamas infrastructure. Hamed was the head of the Hamas in Ramallah and the principal target of the operation. He is suspected of planning numerous terror attacks in which 68 Israelis were murdered and over 550 wounded. The attacks include the suicide bomb attack at Jerusalem's Moment Cafe in March 2002, the suicide bomb attack at the Sheffield Snooker Club in Rishon Lezion in May 2002, the...

On December 1, 2003, the IDF ended an operation in Ramallah to arrest Hamas operatives. During the operation, IDF forces apprehended 29 Hamas operatives. In addition, three senior wanted Palestinians were killed when they fired at IDF forces. IDF forces also seized a diverse amount of weapons, including a 20 kilogram explosive belt, explosive charges and dozens of kilograms of explosive materials. In addition, IDF forces uncovered two explosive devices hidden inside a basketball. Since last night, arrests of Hamas operatives in Ramallah have been carried out in a combined operation including the participation of the ISA (Israeli Security Forces),...

The large-scale military operation that the IDF began this morning in Ramallah continues this afternoon. The operation is designed to apprehend Hamas terrorists, members of four cells who are responsible for no fewer than 68 terrorist murders since the beginning of the Oslo War three years ago. The army notified the PA in advance of the operation, giving assurances that it would not enter the Mukata where Arafat has been holed up for close to two years. Among the terrorists being sought by the Israeli forces are those who killed three patrolling soldiers in Ein Yabrud, across from Ofrah, six...

<p>The Israeli military launched a large-scale raid on the West Bank city of Ramallah early Monday, arresting dozens of Palestinians and blowing up at least one building, the army and Palestinian security officials said.</p> <p>The raid comes just hours before Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators headed to Geneva to sign an unofficial peace plan, and a day before Palestinian factions were to meet in Cairo for cease-fire talks.</p>

Yasser Arafat's gaunt, fragile appearance during last weekend's inauguration of an emergency cabinet for the Palestinian Authority has raised a flurry of speculation over the state of the 74-year-old leader's health. Palestinian officials on Wednesday denied rumors that Arafat had last week suffered a mild heart attack and explained that Arafat has been suffering from a bad case of the flu or an intestinal infection. But according to a source inside the compound, the recent working diagnosis is that Arafat is suffering from stomach cancer. Al-Jazeera TV reported Wednesday that two teams of doctors, one from Jordan and the other...

Last Update: 08/10/2003 21:30 IDF to call up four battalions of reservists after Sukkot By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Lieutenant General Moshe Ya'alon, decided Wednesday to call up four battalions of reserve infantry soldiers after the Sukkot holiday, to be deployed in the Gaza Strip and along the Green Line border between Israel and the West Bank in the Jenin, Tul Karm, Qalqilyah and Ramallah sectors. The reservists will be deployed in order to boost troops already on high alert for terrorist attacks and in some cases will replace regular army units whose training...

Yasser Arafat has suffered a mild heart attack but the Palestinian leadership has sought to keep his health problems secret for fear it will "create panic". The 74-year-old Palestinian president, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease, disappeared from public view last week and re-emerged at the weekend looking extremely ill. His face was pale and pinched, he had lost weight and he was almost inaudible. He had trouble standing for more than a few minutes at a time. The Palestinian press said he was suffering from flu. But Palestinian officials told the Guardian that Mr Arafat had suffered a heart...

Arafat Concerned Over Possible IDF Operation 21:45 Oct 04, '03 / 8 Tishrei 5764(IsraelNN.com) Arafat and his security personnel are concerned that following the latest terror attack; the IDF may receive a green light for an operation targeting the PA leader in the Mukata, possibly abducting him for expulsion from Israel.

Oct. 2, 2003 Fatah gunmen execute 'collaborator' in Ramallah hospital By KHALED ABU TOAMEH In the second incident of its kind in recent weeks, masked men belonging to the Fatah militant organization stormed a Ramallah Hospital on Wednesday night and shot dead a Palestinian patient suspected of collaboration with Israel. Two weeks ago, masked men from Fatah's armed wing, Aksa Martyrs Brigades, raided the Tulkarm Hospital and shot dead 27-year-old Fida Tirawi while he was undergoing surgery. Tirawi, who belonged to the same group, was killed as part of a dispute between rival groups affiliated with the Aksa Martyrs Brigades...

Body of Palestinian, 25, accused of collaborating with Israel, found in West Bank city of Ramallah (Haaretz)

TODAY: Security Council to vote on resolution seeking assurances of leader’s safetyUNITED NATIONS - Facing a U.S. veto threat, the U.N. Security Council set a vote for Tuesday on a resolution, backed by Arab nations, demanding that Israel not harm or deport Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. THE COUNCIL'S decision Monday night to go to a vote on a resolution drafted by the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Nasser al-Kidwa, capped a day of harsh debate in which more than 40 governments took the floor to condemn a decision by the Israeli security Cabinet to get rid of Arafat through...

The United States has prevented Israel's military from capturing the headquarters of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. U.S. government sources said the Bush administration sent a harsh message to Israel to suspend plans to capture Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah over the weekend. The sources said the had military planned to raid the so-called Muqata'a on late Friday and capture Arafat. Both Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice telephoned Israeli and PA leaders and warned Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to suspend the military plans, Middle East Newsline reported. The U.S. sources said the Bush administration...

Fatah urges Palestinians to stay around the clock at Arafat`s HQ to protect him from any Israeli attempt to exile him More News: Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk supports Arafat expulsion, if coupled with uprooting settlements Spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Solana expresses `great concern` over Israeli decision to expel Arafat Palestinian PM-elect Qureia says shelving bid to form gov`t due to Israel`s decision in principle to expel Arafat

Sep. 11, 2003 IDF troops seize PA ministry near Arafat's Muqata By THE JERUSALEM POST STAFF IDF troops took control of the Palestinian Authority Cultural Ministry in the West Bank city of Ramallah Thursday morning, Palestinian sources said. The building, located just south of Yasser Arafat's Muqata compound, gives the soldiers a vantage point of the Muqata and sends a direct and clear message to Arafat that the IDF is present in the West Bank city. Palestinian officials expressed concern over the takeover, saying that they expected the IDF to impose a total siege on Arafat. The action came just...

RAMALLAH - Against all odds, in Ramallah, in the heart of a ruined and deteriorating urban area, at the height of a war, a mall has been built. Is this good news for the city's residents? The Plaza Shopping Center, the first mall in the Palestinian Authority, was designed by an architect from Ramallah. New and sparkling clean, it's gray and blue, and built of stone, metal and glass, with a facade of large arched windows. There is no building in the city as spacious, as air-conditioned or as new and complete. It's no more than a two minute drive...

Three masked gunmen have executed a Palestinian man in the centre of the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday after accusing him of being a collaborator, witnesses and security sources said. The three said they were from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, witnesses said. "The guy had a mask on and had his hands tied behind his back," one witness told AFP. "Before they shot him, they took off his mask. They then said he was a collaborator and we sentence him to death." The trio fired around 10 bullets...

"My own terrorists have defeated me." Such, apparently, is Yasser Arafat's wry feeling today, after his proposal to fall in line with Israel's position and gather 17 PA terrorists in Jericho was overruled - by the terrorists. Arafat was hoping, based on Israeli hints, that if he would take the wanted terrorists from their place of refuge in his Mukata compound in Ramallah and send them to be supervised in Jericho - in return, Israel would remove its siege from his compound and allow him freedom of movement. Arafat invited them to his office over the weekend where he told...

Translation from Hebrew to English by me: The Fatah organization in Ramallah have put up a mourners tent as a result of the deaths of the sons of the overthrown president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, that were brought today for burial. This was reported by security sources in the territories. The sources added that Zahal has no intention of hindering the activities in the area, but noted that "even with the peace process, the Fatah members in Ramallah are showing again who they identity with."

Despite credible intelligence warnings of planned terrorist attacks against Israelis, the closure imposed on Judea, Samaria and Gaza (Yesha) was lifted this morning (Sunday). The relaxing of restrictions, a gesture called for by visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell, had immediate results. Within hours of the Israeli gesture, Ramallah-based terrorists shot and killed an Israeli motorist north of Ofrah. At approximately 6:15am, an Israeli motorist was killed by Arab terrorists who opened fire on his vehicle, causing him to lose control and crash. A second Israeli vehicle was also hit by gunfire in the attack. The attack took place...