Sharon Under Fire For Bungled Siege

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came under wall-to-wall criticism at home Monday for the bungled 10-day siege of Yasser Arafat's compound, which was aborted under intense U.S. pressure.

Several Cabinet ministers said Israel underestimated Washington's opposition to the operation and its determination to keep the focus on Iraq ahead of a possible U.S. strike against Saddam Hussein.

In new violence Monday, Israeli troops enforcing a curfew in the West Bank town of Nablus and an adjacent refugee camp killed a 13-year-old Palestinian boy and wounded 10 youngsters, most of whom were on the way to or from school, doctors and witnesses said.

In a report released Monday by Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group said both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have allowed children to be killed with impunity during the two-year conflict.

At Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, Israeli troops were out of sight, a day after ending their siege though they still control the town, as well as most other population centers in the West Bank.

A small bulldozer brought in by the Palestinians cleared some of the rubble; in the initial assault last week, Israeli troops leveled all but one building. Workers swept up shattered glass, fixed water pipes and tried to salvage air conditioners while crowd gathered nearby to gawk. Vendors quickly arrived to sell ice cream, coffee and newspapers.

Arafat complained Monday that Israeli troops should pull back further and said Israel must now implement the remainder of last week's U.N. Security Council resolution — a withdrawal from Palestinian cities.

Arafat adviser Nabil Abu Rdeneh said that Arafat would resume consultations on appointing a new Cabinet to replace the ministers forced to resign earlier this month as part of an effort by members of Arafat's Fatah movement to push Arafat to share power.

"Definitely, there should be a new Cabinet as soon as possible," the aide said.

The withdrawal from Arafat's compound was seen in Israel as an unconditional surrender to U.S. pressure. Sharon initially demanded that dozens of wanted men holed up with Arafat come out.

Palestinian officials said many of the wanted men in the compound had slipped away after Israeli forces left. They said it was decided each would fend for himself once the siege ended.

An Israeli security source said: "We have no indications the wanted men have bolted. Reports reaching us say the most prominent ones are still inside."

Immediately after Sharon informed his Cabinet on Sunday that troops must withdraw, he left on a three-day visit to Russia.

The Cabinet approved the siege last week in response to a suicide bombing on a Tel Aviv bus in which six people were killed. At the time, it was portrayed as a compromise between Sharon, who was pushing for Arafat's expulsion, and security chiefs who said ousting the Palestinian leader was counterproductive.

"We didn't consider (last week) how much the United States has already started counting down to the strike against Iraq," said Housing Minister Natan Sharansky. "The decision was made in haste, and this is the result."

Tourism Minister Yitzhak Levy also said the decision to besiege Arafat was based on an "erroneous assessments," though he said the siege would weaken Arafat in the long run.

In a show of defiance on Sunday, Arafat -- blowing kisses and making a V-for-Victory sign -- emerged from his sandbagged office complex in the wake of clouds of dust from retreating Israeli tanks.

The pullback from Arafat's "Muqata" headquarters was an embarrassing climbdown for Sharon's government following a message from U.S. President George W. Bush demanding a speedy end to the blockade.

Mr. Bush's rare rebuke appeared to signal a new dynamic in Sharon's close relationship with the president and in the prime minister's policy towards the Palestinians, who have accused the White House of turning a blind eye to Israeli army clampdowns.

Before launching any future moves against Arafat or a possible Gaza offensive against militants, Sharon would have to weigh the almost certain anger such actions would trigger in Washington as it prepared for action against Iraq.

Critics said Sharon failed to take into account that the operation against Arafat would interfere with U.S. efforts to win Arab and U.N. support for a campaign against Iraq.

Israeli newspaper commentators voiced near-unanimous criticism of Sharon's handling of a siege that drew international condemnation.

"Sharon is leaving behind a colossal failure, the most notable failure since the beginning of his term in office," commentator Hemi Shalev wrote in Maariv.

"The lesson for the future: The key to every Middle East deal is in the hands of Bush, him and only him," said Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

"Muqata pullout hands Arafat a rare victory," read a front-page headline in the left-wing Ha'aretz newspaper.

Sharon also mistakenly thought the siege would force Arafat to seek exile or give up the wanted men, critics said.

Polls showed that Arafat emerged strengthened from the blockade, which temporarily froze efforts by his Fatah movement to force him to share power and appoint a prime minister.

In the West Bank, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was killed in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus when soldiers fired from tanks at children who threw stones while on their way to school, doctors said. In Nablus, 10 youngsters were wounded.

The army said it was investigating the reports. Nablus has been under Israeli military curfew since June with residents only permitted occasionally to leave their homes. Many children violate curfew to get to school.

In the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, a 43-year-old Palestinian woman was comatose after two Israeli tank shells hit her home, doctors and her brother said. Palestinians said the shells were fired without provocation. Israel's military denied firing tank shells. It said soldiers shot assault rifles after mortar shells fell near an army post.

In its report, Amnesty International said both Israel and the Palestinian Authority were at fault for the large numbers of minors killed in the past two years.

According to an Associated Press count, 236 Palestinian and 61 Israeli minors have been killed since September 2000. Many of the Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers firing at stone-throwers. Many of the Israeli minors were killed in suicide bombings or shooting attacks by Palestinians.

Amnesty said that Israel has not investigated wrongdoing by its soldiers, while the Palestinian Authority has failed to prevent attacks and bring those responsible to justice. Israeli and Palestinian government officials had no immediate comment.