Palestinian Prisoners Surrender

Militant Leader Gives Up After Israeli Prison Raid, Foreigners Kidnapped In Retaliation

(CBS/AP) 

One policeman standing near the gate was killed in the shootout and a prisoner was also killed, security officials said. A third Palestinian was wounded and later died in an Israeli hospital, the army said.

Explosions shook the prison throughout the day as Israeli tanks fired shells at the walls, and thick smoke filled the sky. Helicopters flew overhead. Youths in the town threw rocks at the Israeli soldiers and protesters placed burning tires in the roads.

The six wanted men were being held at the jail under the supervision of British and American wardens in accordance with a deal worked out between U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in April 2002. The agreement allowed the prisoners to be transferred from Yasser Arafat's besieged compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where they were holed up during Israel's operation Defensive Shield in April 2002.

Israeli hard-liners chafed at the deal, believing it allowed an assassin to escape justice; Palestinians disliked having to jail a popular militant leader.

Israeli political analyst Yossi Alpher said the upcoming Israeli elections were one of the reasons behind the raid, but the main catalyst was concern Hamas would free Saadat, who was elected to the legislature in January.

Soon after the election, Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal said the group planned to release him. On March 7, Palestinian leader Abbas said he was willing to release Saadat, but only if the PFLP accepted responsibility for his fate.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said conditions at the prison were so bad that the observers had to work from the roof rather than the inside of the prison. Guards were allowing prisoners to use mobile phones in violation of the agreement and failing to enforce rules limiting visitors and phone calls, he said.

British officials had been in contact with the Palestinians four times since Friday to convey the urgency of their concerns, Straw said. With the request ignored, the observers left the prison Tuesday morning, he said. "Ultimately, the safety of our personnel has to take precedence," he said.

U.S. officials said there were no American monitors at the prison Tuesday, just Britons. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Palestinians had been repeatedly informed of the U.S. and British concerns about conditions at the jail.

McCormack said U.S. officials had been in touch with both sides "to urge calm and restraint."

Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told Channel 2 TV that Israel did not inform the United States in advance or coordinate the raid with Washington.

Abbas lashed out at the Americans and the British, saying they violated the agreement by withdrawing the monitors without telling him.

He also called on Palestinians to refrain from attacks on foreigners. But the raid cause an unprecedented spasm of violence against foreigners across the Palestinian areas.

Incoming Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, called the raid "a dangerous escalation against the Palestinian leaders and freedom fighters."