ARAFAT’S BOAT was not damaged and, at the time of the attack, the Palestinian president was in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where he has been stranded since early December after Israeli forces destroyed his helicopters in Gaza.

Witnesses said at least two missiles were fired from an Israeli ship stationed offshore as part of a blockade that has been in force since the start of a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in September 2000.

The explosions destroyed a one-story structure that housed the naval police post, witnesses said. There were no reports of casualties.

The Israeli military declined comment. Two Israeli helicopter gunships were spotted over the city after the strike.

PALESTINIANS ARREST ARMS SHIP SUSPECTS
Late Friday, the Palestinian Authority issued a statement saying it would detain three senior officials in connection with the arms smuggling. Security sources said two officials living in Ramallah already had been taken into custody.

Israeli forces last week seized the ship, which was carrying 50 tons of arms. The ship’s captain said in a jailhouse interview that he loaded the arms in Iran and that the weapons were destined for Gaza. 

Israel has blamed the Palestinian Authority and Arafat, saying they were behind the shipment of arms, which included rockets and anti-tank missiles.

The Palestinian Authority maintains it had no connection with the weapons.

“The Palestinian leadership emphasizes that it does not have any information about the ship issue,” the Palestinian Authority said in a statement.

The statement added that the Palestinian Authority detained the suspects based on information it had from international sources.

The two men detained were identified as Fuad Shobaki and Adel Mughraby. Israel says Shobaki is a senior official who authorized payments for the ship and the arms.

A third official, Fathi Razim, deputy commander of the Palestinian’s navy, was being sought by Palestinian security forces.

In Washington on Friday, Hassan Abdel Rahman, the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s chief representative, dismissed as “absurd” Israel’s accusation that Arafat was directly involved in the foiled plot to smuggle in the arms.

Israel intercepted the weapons in the Red Sea on Jan. 3 and accused the Palestinian Authority of seeking to smuggle the rockets, mortar, explosives and other arms.

“It’s absurd to think Yasser Arafat would be personally involved, or anyone close to Arafat, even,” Rahman said.

BULLDOZERS DESTROY RUNWAY
Earlier Friday, Israeli bulldozers backed by tanks gouged 100-yard trenches in five places along a Palestinian controlled airport runway in Gaza. The airport has largely been out of operation since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began in September 2000.

Fayez Zaidan, head of the Palestinian Civil Aviation Authority, estimated the cost of repairs at $3 million.

“This action was ... to show a glimpse of what can and will be done in the future if the situation worsens,” said Col. Imad Farris, commander of Israel’s elite Givati brigade.

In the West Bank town of Hebron, a Palestinian man was shot and seriously wounded by an Israeli soldier, Palestinian witnesses said. Israeli military sources confirmed the incident and told Reuters that Rajabi had been shot while he was trying to wrest away an automatic rifle from an Israeli soldier guarding a Jewish settlement in the town. The Israeli army said it was checking the report.

In Jerusalem, a 60-year-old Israeli man was stabbed and seriously wounded by a number of masked men as he was strolling on a promenade near his home. Police said they suspected the assailants were Palestinian militants. 

Later, Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers moved into Palestinian controlled areas in Gaza and cut off the road between the towns of Rafah and Khan Younis, the security sources said.

The action is “in order to control and prevent the movement of terrorists,” the army said in a statement.

Israeli soldiers also detained eight people in Rafah suspected of weapons smuggling, the army statement added.

MILITANTS DETAINED
Also Friday, Israeli soldiers detained three militants in the West Bank, the army said. Two were suspected of involvement in shooting attacks, the army said. Israel radio’s Arabic-language service said the third, 24-year-old Amer Ishtawi, was a member of the militant Hamas group.

Palestinian security forces in the last three days arrested two members of the militant Islamic Jihad group, including one who was on Israel’s most wanted list, a Palestinian official told the Associated Press on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Israel has demanded further arrests and says the Palestinian Authority has not been willing to take serious measures aimed at crushing the militants.
 
‘THIS WILL LEAD TO AN EXPLOSION’
The latest developments, including an announcement by the militant group Islamic Jihad that it would no longer adhere to its halt in attacks on Israelis, threatened to wreck U.S. efforts to end more than 15 months of bloodshed.

“This new aggression (by Israel) will lead to an explosion — more violence and tension,” Nabil Abu Rdainah, a senior aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, told Voice of Palestine radio.

Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner said the army had gone into action because Arafat had not done enough to rein in militants, “and regretfully we are doing the job that the Palestinian Authority is supposed to do.”

Abu Rdainah said Washington must intervene immediately to stop what he called brutal Israeli crimes that could undermine U.S. diplomacy aimed at putting a truce-to-talks plan in motion.

The Palestinian Authority demanded an immediate meeting of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations to discuss “this dangerous situation.”

Abu Rdainah said relations with Israel had ceased since Washington’s Mideast envoy, Anthony Zinni, left the region on Sunday.
 
RETALIATION IN RAFAH
On Thursday, Israel began its retaliation for the attack on an Israeli army post in Gaza — which was claimed by the Hamas faction — when a dozen bulldozers and armored vehicles drove into the Rafah refugee camp just before dawn and began flattening buildings. 

Rafah was home to the two assailants who stormed the army outpost on Wednesday, in the first fatal attack by Palestinians against Israelis since Arafat’s Dec. 16 call for an end to the violence.

Israel said the structures at the refugee camp served as cover for Palestinian gunmen and smugglers. Palestinian officials said most of the buildings were inhabited, and some residents said they fled their homes in heavy rain as bulldozers approached.
 
U.S. KEEPS PRESSURE ON PALESTINIANS
In Washington, the Bush administration, after being briefed by Israeli intelligence, has concluded that the Palestinian Authority and a PLO faction controlled by Arafat were involved in a plan to smuggle 50 tons of weapons to Gaza, according to a senior U.S. official Thursday. 

“I, like many, am beginning to suspect those arms were headed ... to promote terror,” President Bush told reporters. He did not directly blame Arafat but said, “I do believe that once the evidence is in, those responsible need to be held to account.... Mr. Arafat must renounce terror, must reject those who would disrupt the peace process through terror and must work hard to get to the peace table.”

After Israeli naval commandos intercepted a ship carrying the rockets, ammunition and other arms last Thursday, the United States withheld judgment, to the irritation of the Israeli government. But senior U.S. officials eventually said they found the evidence presented by Israel compelling.