MIDDLE EAST Israeli troops suddenly withdraw from raid

The offensive killed 45 Palestinians and left millions of dollars in damage.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Israeli troops abruptly left this refugee camp without completing a sweep for arms-smuggling tunnels, prompting growing criticism in Israel that the military has little to show for a weeklong offensive that drew worldwide condemnation.
Palestinian officials estimated today that about 300 homes were razed in the raid and 200 more rendered uninhabitable by serious damage. Forty-five Palestinians were killed, including at least 17 gunmen and 12 children under 16.
The Israeli military said 56 houses were demolished or damaged.
Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert, meanwhile, said a one-vote majority is emerging in the divided Cabinet in favor of a Gaza withdrawal. The Cabinet is to vote on the plan next week, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been struggling to secure a majority. Earlier this month, his Likud Party rejected a Gaza pullout.
Sharon has insisted that he would not negotiate the terms of a pullback with the Palestinian Authority. However, Egypt emerged as a key mediator Monday. Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met with Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, relaying messages between the sides and saying Egypt is willing to play a major role in assuring security in Gaza and an orderly transfer of power.
Suleiman urged skeptical Palestinian leaders to go along with Sharon's plan of "unilateral disengagement," which would also include a withdrawal from four West Bank settlements, according to Palestinian officials.
Arafat promised to prepare a Gaza security plan by June 15, to show he is capable of running the coastal strip after an Israeli pullback, the officials said.
Assessment of raid
Sharon's push for a Gaza withdrawal came despite the Rafah offensive, launched a week ago, after 13 Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza. Rafah abuts the border with Egypt, and troops raided the camp in search of tunnels. The army has said it is crucial to destroy the tunnels to cut of the flow of weapons to militants.
Military commentators said the operation achieved little of what it set out to do, at a very high price -- both in Palestinian suffering and harm to Israel's image.
The army said it found three arms-smuggling tunnels, acknowledging that several more remained hidden in Rafah. No large stockpiles of weapons were discovered. Hundreds of Palestinian gunmen slipped through the Israeli dragnet.
The army's sudden departure, without completing the search for tunnels, "is to a great extent a failure," wrote commentator Amir Rappaport in the Maariv daily.
Roni Daniel, military correspondent for Israel TV's Channel Two, quoted a field commander as saying troops moved in the camp like a "bull in a china shop" and destroyed dozens of greenhouses for no reason.
Matan Vilnai, a retired general and opposition legislator, said smuggling can be stopped only in coordination with Egypt and the Palestinians. "We must understand that not everything can be solved by force," Vilnai told Israel Army Radio.
Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, the Gaza commander, suggested troops might return to Gaza after a brief respite. Military officials said they think there are about 10 tunnels in Rafah.
Demolition and damage
The army says it has destroyed about 90 tunnels in more than three years of fighting. During this period, more than 11,000 Palestinians were made homeless by Israeli house demolitions in Rafah.
In the Brazil neighborhood of Rafah, home to about 20,000 Palestinians, residents surveyed the damage today, including large piles of rubble and torn-up streets. Bulldozers tried to clear streets to allow workers to restore electricity and repair water and sewage pipes.
About 300 houses were demolished in the camp and 200 more were so seriously damaged they can no longer be lived in, said the mayor of the adjacent town of Rafah, Said Zaghoub.
The mayor said he did not have an estimate of the number of people made homeless, except to say 500 families lived in the 300 homes razed completely. Zaghoub estimated that troops caused about $7 million in damage to infrastructure, including the electricity grid and water and sewage pipes.
Yousef Bahloul, a wealthy businessman, said three tank shells hit one of his two seven-story apartment buildings, leaving gaping holes in the fa & ccedil;ade.
Mustafa Arja, 45, said bulldozers knocked down the wall around his small garden and that he and his family lived in fear for several days that their home would be demolished as well. Arja said that even though he was spared this time, he fears the soldiers will be back. "We expect them any time," he said.