Arafat's actions spark anger

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Israeli warplanes bombed a police post in Gaza early Friday, keeping pressure on Yasser Arafat to arrest suspected terrorists. The attack came hours after 1,500 Hamas supporters battled Palestinian riot police to protest Arafat's crackdown.\nAt Shifa Hospital, doctors were treating at least 20 people injured in the strike, including 18 police and two civilians -- a man and his son on their way to a morning prayers. Medical workers said the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening.\nThe Israeli army said in a statement that the attack targeted the "Palestinian security apparatus that supports and aids terrorist operations. The army will continue its operations in order to defend the safety of Israeli citizens and soldiers."\nTwo buildings were completely destroyed -- one a police dormitory, the other office space, including that of a women's police division.\n"This new Israeli crime came while the Palestinian police are exerting maximum efforts to safeguard security," a police statement said.\nThursday's protest was a violent backlash to an intensified roundup of Islamic militants. It came as a U.S. envoy and the Egyptian foreign minister shuttled between Israel and the Palestinian territories, trying to stop more than a year of Palestinian-Israeli clashes and bring about a truce.\nArafat faces pressure from the United States and continued strikes by Israel if he fails to stop militants who have carried out a wave of deadly attacks against Israelis.\nThough Arafat said his forces have arrested 180 militants, Israeli officials said earlier that the leaders of violent groups remain at large.\n"Very few of the people arrested were important," Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Army Radio.\nThe United States was also skeptical of Arafat's sweeps.\n"The president remains deeply concerned that Palestinian jails ... are still built with bars in front with revolving doors at the back," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.\nPalestinians insisted their efforts were sincere and for their own good.\n"The Americans did not impose anything on us," said West Bank security chief Jibril Rajoub. "We know exactly what our interests are and what our duty is."\nArafat said Thursday that the United States had given him a list of 33 militants, and most of them had been arrested. He said his police were looking for the others.\nThe United States has been trying to cool the Mideast conflict to keep it from interfering with its operation in Afghanistan. Since the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, Arafat has been trying to distance himself from Islamic militants.\nArafat met Thursday with U.S. peace envoy Anthony Zinni and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher. Both diplomats also saw Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.\nViolence lent urgency to the talks. Two Palestinian suicide bombing attacks killed 25 in Israel last weekend, and Israeli retaliatory attacks Monday and Tuesday targeted Arafat's headquarters and security offices, killing two people and injuring more than 100.\n"We know there is a warning of some more suicide bombers trying to enter Israel," Peres said after meeting with Maher. Peres said Israel was giving Arafat time to move against the militants, but stressed the urgency of the situation, saying: "Another bomb will really make the situation impossible."\nMaher's visit was a sign of the seriousness of the crisis.