Arafat: Get Israel To Back Down

With Israeli troops and tanks surrounding his battered Ramallah headquarters, Yasser Arafat is pleading for help.

The Palestinian leader has been calling several European officials and Arab leaders -- appealing to them to get Israel to back off.

Among those he's been in touch with -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

According to an adviser, the Arab leaders told Arafat they'd seek an emergency U-N Security Council session to demand an Israeli withdrawal.

Washington has cautioned Israel to show restraint.

CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger reports Israeli troops and tanks have once again put Palestinian President Yasser Arafat under siege at his headquarters in Ramallah, on the West Bank.

The Israel army Friday destroyed at least ten buildings in Arafat's compound after the Israeli Cabinet decided to isolate Arafat and demand the surrender of 20 wanted men Israel says had taken refuge in the Palestinian headquarters.

The army says 20 men surrendered several hours after the siege began. But an Israeli military source said "they weren't all the 20" on Israel's wanted list, which includes Tawfiq Tirawi, powerful head of West Bank general intelligence, and the siege is continuing.

Israeli troops were also on the move in Gaza Friday, blowing up seven buildings it said were being used to manufacture weapons.

Meanwhile Israel's policy of destroying the homes of suicide bombers is having some effect, although not necessarily the terrorist deterrent effect that is intended.

The Islamic militant group Hamas - announcing that one of its members was responsible for the bus bombing that killed five people in Tel Aviv Thursday - declined to give out the name of the bomber.

If it had, the Israeli army would be likely to bulldoze the bomber's house, which in most cases is also the home of the bomber's family.

Hamas, which in the past has publicized the names of suicide bombers, instead referred to Thursday's bus bomber as one of the "martyrs-in-waiting" who "blew up his pure body" among "Zionist occupiers."

Hamas also said the bombing was in revenge for the deaths of one of its top militants, his lieutenant and 14 civilians in an Israeli air raid in Gaza in July.

The Tel Aviv bus bombing followed an explosion in northern Israel that killed a policeman and shattered a six-week lull in suicide bombings, raising fears of a new wave of such attacks and again dimming peace hopes.

In Ramallah, Palestinian officials say Arafat has not been injured in the ongoing siege by Israeli forces. The Palestinians also say one of Arafat's bodyguards was killed by an Israeli sniper.

No other violence was reported in the morning, but the tanks kept their gun barrels trained on Arafat's headquarters and army jeeps patrolled outside the compound. Streets in Ramallah, the main Palestinian commercial and political center, are empty.

Israeli officials said the Israeli cabinet, meeting in emergency session on Thursday, made no decision to exile Arafat, an edict that would stir Arab anger as Israel's main ally, the United States, seeks support for war against Iraq.

But Palestinian leaders feared otherwise.

"It is Sharon's long-held plan to destroy the PA (Palestinian Authority) and to finish Arafat," said chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

After the bus bombing, Israeli forces that have reoccupied most of the West Bank since June imposed curfews on all Palestinian cities, save for Bethlehem and Hebron where the level of anti-Israeli violence has dropped.

Within hours of the bombing, which also wounded about 50 people and sprayed body parts across a busy street at lunch time, Arafat aides said tanks entered his compound and opened fire with heavy machine guns.

"The Israeli army is surrounding the compound and operating within its confines in order to isolate wanted Palestinians who have taken refuge inside and are responsible for directing many terrorist attacks," a military communique said.

The Palestinian Authority called on the international community to "immediately stop this aggression" and condemned the Tel Aviv bombing.

Some Israeli commentators questioned whether the Ramallah operation was necessary, saying Arafat - whom Israel has kept confined to the city for almost a year - is now a figurehead leader powerless to act against militants.

The Ramallah siege was followed by an Israeli sweep into the northern Gaza Strip spearheaded by several dozen tanks backed by helicopter gunships.

The army, which has stepped up such operations in recent weeks following mortar bomb attacks on Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, said its forces destroyed an explosives lab and seven buildings where weapons were made before withdrawing.

Witnesses said Israeli forces had pushed more than two miles into the northern Gaza Strip, their deepest move into the area since a Palestinian uprising for statehood began two years ago.

Palestinian hospital officials said a man and a woman were killed by Israeli gunfire. The army said several Palestinian gunmen had shot at its troops and were hit by return fire. Three soldiers were wounded in the operation.

Thursday's developments ratcheted up tensions to their highest level in months. At least 1,548 Palestinians and 594 Israelis have been killed in the uprising.