Arafat warns of escalating conflict

Troops clashed with crowds outside Orient House

Israeli attacks on the West Bank and Gaza are a "dangerous escalation" of 10 months of violence, Yasser Arafat has warned.

The Palestinian leader was speaking after Israeli fighter jets rocketed Palestinian police headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, in retaliation for Thursday's suicide bomb that killed 15 people in the heart of Jerusalem.

Grief and shock have followed the Jerusalem bombing

Later, there were angry scuffles and several arrests as Israeli troops took control of several Palestinian Authority offices in East Jerusalem and elsewhere - including Orient House, the Palestinians' political headquarters in the city.

BBC Jerusalem correspondent Nick Childs says that the move is highly symbolic, undercutting the Palestinians' main political foothold in East Jerusalem, while asserting Israel's position.

Funerals have been taking place for some of those killed in the bombing, including five members from one family who were buried in Jerusalem's main cemetery.

This is a very dangerous [situation] against the Palestinian people

Yasser Arafat

Mordechai and Tzirli Schijueshuurder - from the West Bank settlement of Talmon - died along with three of their children, aged two, four and 14.

Arrests

Jordan and Egypt led condemnation of the Israeli attacks, and called for the re-opening of Orient House.

Palestinians have vowed to retake Orient House

"This behaviour by the Israeli forces is part of the chain of provocative Israeli practices which violate agreements," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said of the seizure of the Palestinian headquarters.

Several people, including Europeans from the Committee for Solidarity with the Palestinian People, were arrested as hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside Orient House.

A British peace campaigner named as Anjie Zelter was among those detained.

The French news agency AFP said the demonstrators tried to break through a cordon around the building but were beaten back by police.

'Dangerous consequences'

Mr Arafat said the overnight attacks would serve only to strengthen the Palestinian movement, and Palestinian officials warned of dangerous consequences.

"This is a very dangerous [situation] against the Palestinian people and an escalation," he said as he toured the debris.

The Ramallah police station was levelled by the two Israeli missiles fired at it.

But it appears that many Palestinian police stations had been evacuated ahead of the attacks amid fears of Israeli retaliation for the Jerusalem bombing.

The last time Israel used F-16 fighters was following a Palestinian attack in May, when a suicide bomber killed six people outside a shopping centre in the coastal city of Netanya.

The BBC's James Reynolds says the reaction has not been as violent as many Israelis had expected; some are calling for an overwhelming military attack on Palestinian targets.

Deadly attack

Thursday's bomb in Jerusalem was the most deadly attack since a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 20 Israelis in Tel Aviv on 1 June - and the worst by far in Jerusalem during the ongoing 10-month Palestinian uprising.

Deadly suicide attacks

9 August: Jerusalem pizzeria, at least 15 dead

16 July: Binyamina bus stop, two dead

1 June: Tel Aviv disco, 21 dead

18 May: Netanya shopping centre, five dead

The nail-packed bomb exploded in one of the busiest intersections in Jewish west Jerusalem at the busiest part of the day.

Palestinian suicide bombers have killed dozens of Israelis since the uprising began after peace talks became deadlocked.

More than 560 people on the Palestinian side and more than 150 on the Israeli side have been killed since hostilities broke out in September 2000.