Israel Raids PA "Prison"

A special anti-terror police unit and the IDF Nahal Brigade charged the prison Tuesday morning after U.S. and Britain withdrew their observers ?out of concern for the monitors? safety.?

Ze?evi?s killers surrendered along with 202 other prisoners after nine hours of shelling with heavy artillery and machine gunfire. The six will be taken to a prison in Israel.

Three Arabs were killed and several others wounded during the day-long siege. The IDF released 76 prisoners after it was determined they had not been involved in terrorist activity.

IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz made a personal call to Ze?evi?s family to inform them of the capture. ?This is a great day for Israelis,? said Palmach Ze?evi, the son of the murdered Tourism Minister. He also said, however, that Israel should have ?settled the score right then and there? on the day his father was assassinated.

Arabs protested the action with riots and kidnappings throughout Palestinian Authority-controlled areas. During the day, 17 foreign nationals were kidnapped. Two Australians, an American lecturer and a Red Cross official were released shortly after they were abducted.

According to Israel Radio, armed terrorists were hunting for foreigners in local hotels. The Gaza police chief ordered his officers to fire on anyone who attempted to kidnap foreigners.

Some of the West's finest diplomatic minds devised the idea of a mission at the Jericho jail by a team of British and American security personnel.

Israeli security sources believe the attack was planned by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) chief Ahmad Sa'adat, who was also behind the murder of Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi last year. After the recent lifting of the Israeli siege of Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, Sa'adat, who originally was to be held in a Jericho prison under British guard, was instead provided an office in Jericho with full freedom of movement and unrestricted communications - including telephone.

Britain's tiny contingent of monitors left Jericho's jail soon after 9 am Tuesday, telling Palestinian staff that they were taking their car to be fixed. The Foreign Office later said they were leaving because of fears for their "security" and few doubt that inside Jericho jail the inmates ran the show.

The cell of Ahmed Saadat, the man accused of masterminding the assassination of Maj.-Gen. (res.) Rehavam Zeevi, was more of an office. He had telephones and television sets. The jail's Palestinian guards stayed away from his quarters, which included a kitchen and an area to receive guests. The British monitors stayed even further back.