World

Israelis Praise, Palestinians Protest

March 15, 2006 / 10:31 AM EST / CBS/AP

After Israel's grab of top Palestinian prisoners from a West Bank jail, angry Palestinians staged protest strikes Wednesday, their embarrassed president rushed back from Europe, and Israel said it is determined to put the detainees on trial for the 2001 assassination of a Cabinet minister.

"Got 'em!" gloated one banner newspaper headline above a large photo of blindfolded, handcuffed Palestinian militant leader Ahmed Saadat being led away by Israeli troops in the West Bank town of Jericho.

The raid on the Jericho prison was praised across the political spectrum, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. Politicians and pundits said Israel could not allow Saadat, who was jailed for ordering the killing of an Israeli Cabinet minister, to walk away.

"We had no choice. We did what any democracy would have done," said Government spokesman Gideon Meir.

Hamas leaders, who are now in power, had said they planned to free Sa'adat, but the Israeli army got there first.

In other developments:

Israel Wednesday extended the closure of Palestinian areas through the weekend, security officials said, citing the threat of revenge attacks in response to the Israeli raid in Jericho. Israel imposed the closure, barring Palestinians from entering Israel, last weekend for the current Purim holiday, when schools are closed and streets are crowded with celebrations.

Israelis are celebrating the Biblical holiday of Purim, marking the deliverance of the Jews in ancient Persia, with parades and parties, reports Berger (audio). It is customary for children and adults alike to dress up in costumes with Biblical and modern themes. The traditional pastry is the ear-shaped hamentashen, or the ears of Haman, the Persian villain who wanted to destroy the Jews.

The Palestinian Authority Wednesday began paying overdue salaries to thousands of employees, averting the latest financial crisis for the perennially cash-starved government. The Palestinian Authority's financial woes have worsened since Hamas won January's elections. Israel already has cut off about $50 million in tax money it collects for the Palestinians each month.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that Britain respects "the mandate that Hamas secured" in January's Palestinian election, but added that in exchange for British economic and political help it must give up violence, negotiate peacefully and recognize Israel's existence "if they want our help both financially and politically."

The timing of the Jericho raid couldn't have been better for acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the frontrunner in Israel's election race, reports Berger (audio). Olmert has little military experience and he is trying to fill the shoes of the comatose Ariel Sharon, a former general and war hero. Olmert said the timing of the raid was not political, but it had to be done to prevent the release of wanted terrorists. But in a security minded country, it's bound to help him as Israelis head to the polls.

The raid triggered unprecedented Palestinian reprisals against foreigners, because British wardens — who along with American monitors had supervised the Jericho prisoners under an unusual 2002 arrangement — left their posts just before Israeli troops arrived.

Gunmen vandalized Western offices and kidnapped 11 foreigners, including an American university professor. By Wednesday afternoon, all had been released.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cut short a European trip and called the raid an "unforgivable crime" and "an insult to the Palestinian people" as he toured the demolished complex.

Abbas suggested there was close coordination between foreign inspectors and Israeli forces. Abbas said Israeli troops arrived 10 minutes after foreign monitors left Jericho. Pressed to elaborate, he said: "I'm giving the facts. They (the monitors) left at 9:20 a.m., and the Israelis came in at 9:30 a.m. How can we explain that?"

The Israeli raid made Abbas appear increasingly weak to his people.

"This was a severe blow to the Palestinian Authority and to Abu Mazen (Abbas) personally," said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who was accompanying him.

The raid came at a time when Abbas is wrangling over the division of powers with the Islamic militant Hamas, which is poised to form a new government this month. In the West Bank city of Nablus, hundreds chanted anti-Abbas slogans during a protest.

Israeli forces took the Palestinian Authority by surprise when they ringed the Jericho prison Tuesday and demanded the surrender of all prisoners, including Saadat and four accomplices in the 2001 assassination of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi.

Throughout the day, groups of prisoners emerged from the lockup, their hands raised and forced to strip to their underwear. Helicopters and tanks shelled the building, and jackhammers tore down walls to force the others to give up as well. Saadat, leader of a radical PLO faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), held out until after nightfall, then walked out in a single file of prisoners and Palestinian police.

In all, more than 300 Palestinians were detained, and the Israeli military said all but 38 had been released by Wednesday, including many policemen stationed at the jail.

Saadat and other top prisoners were questioned overnight at a small army base near Jericho. In addition to the PFLP prisoners, Israel seized Fuad Shobaki, the alleged financier of an illegal weapons shipment to the Palestinian Authority several years ago.

Olmert said Wednesday that the six "will be indicted according to Israeli law and they will be punished as they deserve."

The four believed to be directly involved in the assassination were convicted in the past by a Palestinian court, and Israeli legal experts said earlier Wednesday it was not clear whether they can be tried again.