Israeli troops blew up the Voice of Palestine radio station's offices yesterday in retribution for a Palestinian attack that killed six people, but failed to stop it from broadcasting locally.
The Palestinian gunman's shooting rampage at a Jewish party in north Israel on Thursday and new Israeli assaults on symbols of Palestinian independence have battered US and Europe-led truce efforts to quell more than 15 months of bloodshed.
Half the five-story Voice of Palestine building in the West Bank city of Ramallah collapsed after Israeli troops, accompanied by tanks and bulldozers, cleared people from the area before dawn and detonated explosives.
The blast sent flames, smoke and a shower of debris skywards. A Palestinian official said the force of the blast shattered windows in several nearby houses.
The Israeli army announced in a statement it had carried out the operation "in the framework of Israeli reaction to the murderous attack" in the northern Israeli city of Hadera two days earlier.
Israel has accused the Voice of Palestine, which broadcasts the official positions of the Palestinian Authority, of transmitting provocative material during the Palestinian uprising which erupted in September 2000.
Palestinians deny the charge and say Israel is trying to silence its media.
Voice of Palestine director Bassem Abusumaya said the station had resumed broadcasting news, songs and talk shows on local FM frequencies used by private radio stations. Israeli radio said Palestinian television was still broadcasting out of Gaza.
The Palestinian leadership said in a statement the "cheap crime" perpetrated by Israel was meant "to silence the Palestinian voice so the world won't know about the brutal crime the Israeli occupation has carried out against our people."
Dozens of people shouted slogans against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the site later in the day in a show of solidarity called for by the Palestinian Ministry of Information as well as official and unofficial media.
The Voice of Palestine said Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat had denounced the demolition as part of Israeli government efforts to undermine the Palestinian Authority and its institutions, the BBC reported.
Israeli government spokesman Arie Mekel said the station had "long been a center of incitement against Israel," which would "continue to do whatever [is] necessary" to protect its citizens and avoid a repetition of the Hadera attack.
On Friday Israel launched reprisals for the attack on a Jewish bar mitzva, or coming-of-age party, in Hadera.
The military response began with an air strike on a Palestinian security compound in the West Bank city of Tulkarem and a tightened military grip around Arafat's presidential offices in Ramallah.
One Palestinian was killed in the air strike and a second was shot dead by troops during a stone-throwing confrontation outside Arafat's office.
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