RAMALLAH, West Bank - Israeli soldiers arrived at the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
at 10:45 a.m. on April 13. They detonated a small charge in the door, ran up the marble
steps, detonated another charge in another door and burst into the office.

They stayed for just a few hours, but they seized a computer and a cellphone,
broke dozens of windows, swept books off shelves, peppered walls with shrapnel
and bullets, spit pumpkin seeds on the floor and allegedly stole 3,700 shekels, or
about $825.

This was not Yasser Arafat's office or one of his armories or ministries. This was
a nonprofit organization that promotes Palestinian art and culture. It is funded by the
Ford Foundation, the European Union, Dutch benefactors and others.

Abstract paintings hang on the walls, though one frame is now punctured by a
bullet hole. Sculptures stand on display, though one is now broken in two. The sign
outside says: "Hosni Radwan Exhibition Open Daily from 9 a.m. -- 5 p.m.''

The wrought iron door next to that sign was charred and deformed by
the soldiers' explosives.

''This was not a security operation,'' Adila Laidi, the center's American-educated
director, said Tuesday. "They didn't come in here looking for terrorists. You don't
steal money during a security operation.

"It was just vandalism, part of a conscious desire to ruin everything Palestinian.
Once you decide to do that, you go and methodically destroy every institution.
Subconsciously, they are dreaming about shoving the whole Palestinian people
out of existence.''

Many Palestinians charge that Israeli soldiers systematically looted private homes
and companies, stealing jewelry, money and other items. Officials of Arafat's
Palestinian Authority say nearly every ministry building has been unnecessarily wrecked.

''I ask you, how is raiding, ransacking, destroying and looting the ministry of
education, health or transportation related to fighting this supposed [terrorist]
infrastructure?'' asked Yasser Abed Rabbo, the Palestinian minister of culture and
information. "The Israeli occupation army destroyed the records of one million
Palestinian students.''

Israeli officials said their soldiers had to thoroughly search for terrorists, weapons
and financial records that might provide military intelligence. They said Israel's army
is known for being honorable and moral, and it is clearly against policy for any soldier
to steal private property.

[Image] Still, the army said one soldier already has been arrested on suspicion of
theft, 24 other cases are being investigated and officers are spot checking soldiers'
personal bags for stolen property.

''We condemn all kinds of vandalism and looting,'' said Lt. Col. Olivier Rafovitch,
a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces. "And if we have evidence against
soldiers, we will take the necessary action.''

It is difficult to see any justification or rationale for what happened on April 13
at the elegant stone mansion at 4 Raja Street that houses the Khalil Sakakini
Cultural Center.

The center was founded in 1998 and is located a few blocks from the commercial
center of Ramallah, a Palestinian city about as far away from Jerusalem as Hialeah
is from downtown Miami.

The group sponsors about eight monthly concerts, book readings and art exhibits
for adults, and it underwrites a Visual Arts Nurture Program for children. It
frequently has hosted visiting artists, lecturers and performers from the United States.

On its second floor is an office reserved for Mahmoud Darwish, the
Palestinian poet often called the conscience of his people. Darwish is in the
United States, but he uses this office when he is in Ramallah.

Now, the office is filled with shattered glass, books tossed from shelves and
letters and documents stripped from files. A bullet penetrated one window, leaving
a neat hole and not a single radiating crack.

Just outside that office, 15 bullet holes perforate an adjoining wall and ceiling.
Laidi said those holes will not be repaired.

''They will stay here forever,'' she said, "because we have to remember, and it has
to be a testimony of what Israelis did to an art center.''

No one was in the building when the Israelis arrived, but residents of nearby houses
called to tell her what was happening. It will cost about $5,000 to repair the damage,
she said, a considerable sum because the annual budget is only $64,000.

Laidi, 35, was born in Algeria. She was educated at Georgetown University in
Washington, D.C. She has a husband and a 3-year-old daughter.

In recent months, the center has organized a ''Break the Siege'' project and a
photographic memorial of ''100 Shaheed -- 100 Lives.'' In response to questions,
Laidi said Shaheed are not suicide bombers, but rather martyrs, those who have
been killed during the Palestinian uprising.

Still, Laidi said everyone has a right to artistic expression.
''Palestinian art? I guess for Israelis that is considered subversive,'' she said.

"I guess our art is very dangerous, if you don't want us to exist at all.''

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