DATE=03/12/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-287463

TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS (S-UPDATE)

BYLINE=MICHAEL DRUDGE

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

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INTRO: Israel has launched its biggest military operation since the Palestinian uprising began a year-and-a-half ago. At least 28 Palestinians have been killed and scores more wounded. In apparent retaliation, suspected Palestinian gunmen have killed six Israelis near the border with Lebanon. Two assailants also died. We get more from correspondent Michael Drudge in Jerusalem.

TEXT: Thousands of Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopters have stormed into the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Gaza mortuaries and hospitals overflowed with dead and wounded from the Israeli incursion into the Jabaliya refugee camp. Israel says some Palestinian weapons factories were destroyed.

In separate action, more than 150 Israeli tanks rumbled into the West Bank city of Ramallah and the adjacent Amari refugee camp. Israel says several terrorist suspects were detained.

Colonel Gal Hirsh, the military chief of operations, says Ramallah is a hotbed of Palestinian terrorism.

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Since we are under massive, intensive terrorist attack, what other choice do we have, but to enter, to attack, under the directive of defense?

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However, outside observers are criticizing Israel's tactics. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, has called for the violence to end. (Signed).

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