Arafat fair game for assassination: Sharon

Toronto Star/ ASSOCIATED PRESS ^ | 4/5/04 | STEVE WEIZMAN

[Polycarp IV]

Apr. 4, 2004. 07:19 PM

Arafat fair game for assassination: Sharon

BY STEVE WEIZMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said his pledge to the United States not to harm Yasser Arafat no longer holds, declaring that the Palestinian president and the head of Lebanon's Hezbollah are potential targets for assassination.

In an interview set for broadcast Monday by Israeli radio, Sharon also said for the first time that under his plan to leave the Gaza Strip, evacuated Jewish settlements would not be destroyed.

Sharon said that three years ago he promised President George W. Bush that Israel would not harm Arafat, but since then circumstances had changed.

"Arafat was (then) given red carpet treatment everywhere in the world. Today it is clear to the United States and to everyone just who Arafat is," Sharon said. Israel and the United States are boycotting Arafat, charging that he is responsible for Palestinian violence.

On March 22, Israel assassinated Sheik Ahmed Yassin, founder and leader of the violent Islamic Hamas movement, and officials said Israeli forces would mete out similar treatment to others involved in the organization or execution of attacks on Israel.

Asked by the army radio interviewer if that meant Arafat and Hezbollah's Sheik Hassan Nasrallah were targets, Sharon replied, "Whoever aims to kill Jews, whoever sends murderers to kill Jews, is marked for death."

Israel accuses Arafat of not only ignoring violent groups operating from territory under his control, but also actively encouraging attacks against Israelis. Nasrallah said earlier this week that his Lebanese militant group would help Hamas avenge Yassin's death.

Hezbollah and Israel fought a bloody 18-year guerrilla war in south Lebanon before Israel's withdrawal in 2000, and the two are still bitter enemies.

Sharon said he had not sought American approval for any strike against Arafat or Nasrallah.

"I didn't ask permission from anyone," he said. "I want to emphasize again that anyone who kills Jews because they are Jews is marked for death." Hamas has claimed responsibility for suicide bomb attacks that have killed hundreds of Israelis during more than three years of conflict.

Sharon made similar threats in other interviews ahead of the Jewish Passover holiday, which starts at sundown Monday.

In the army radio broadcast, he also said Israel would not demolish buildings left behind in Jewish settlements to be vacated in a proposed withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

He said that Israel intended to get the property evaluated by international organizations and had already raised the issue with the World Bank.

When Israel pulled out of the Sinai Desert in 1982 under terms of its peace accord with Egypt it destroyed the Jewish settlements there. Sharon was defence minister at the time.

With peace moves frozen, Sharon has proposed a unilateral Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip and a much smaller withdrawal in the West Bank. He has said that the moves are needed to fend off hostile international initiatives and reduce friction with the Palestinians.

› Pay less than $3 per week for 7 day home delivery.

[NormsRevenge]

PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei has been hospitalized in Amman.

By JPOST.COM STAFF

Palestinian minister Nabil Shaath is expected to chair Monday's cabinet meeting following reports that PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei has been hospitalized in Amman.

Sources told the Jerusalem Post that Qurei, who has suffered three heart attacks in the past, complained of blurred eyesight, a situation aggravated after last week's cabinet meeting.

Meanwhile, former Palestinian minister Mohamed Dahlan warned that if the PA did not prepare for Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the area would sink into anarchy.

In an interview last week, Dahlan called for a revamping of the Palestinian leadership and an end to corruption.

[Chunga]

This is the first time I remember an Israeli official being so forthright about the possibility of Arafat's assasination.

They issued the warning to scare the crap out of him. They want to force him to use whatever power he has to bring a halt to terrorism in Israel.

It sounds like a final warning. If it works it works and if it doesn't Israel better be prepared to kill him, or the homicide bombing rate will go off the charts.

[yonif]

Assasination, a political term, should not be used to describe what Israel plans on doing with Arafat. Israel is talking about killing or eliminating Arafat.

[YoSoy2]

Viva il Papa!

[The KG9 Kid]

"... They issued the warning to scare the crap out of him. They want to force him to use whatever power he has to bring a halt to terrorism in Israel."

I think just the opposite: They really just might kill Arafat this time.

This is a huge change in Israeli policy, but many ME watchers expected this end game move when Israel was surrounding Arafat's dilapidated hovel of a government office with IDF tanks last year on several occasions.

Actually, I think those actions -- and the assassination of Sheikh Yassin -- were the final warnings. Wasn't it there an AP story two weeks before Sheikh Yassin was wiped out that reported that Israel was finally going to go after the top men?

Now that Israel has the new wall up, they're making truly bold moves. With the upsurge of anti-Semitic/anti-Israel sentiment in much of the EU, what have they got to lose? The USA is the only friend that counts; What's the EU going to do? Boycott Israeli garbanzo beans again?

Arafat could be as dead as fried chicken at any time now, I expect. It could happen tomorrow, and Freepers will wonder why no-one started an Arafat 'Dead Pool' when Israeli intentions will appear to have been so obvious before Arafat's departure.

[Boundless]

> This is the first time I remember an Israeli official
> being so forthright about the possibility of Arafat's
> assasination.

This is a new peak in the rhetoric, but they've been
making bellicose noise for some time. Arafat was
removed from Protected Species status some time ago.
Today he was added to the Trophy Game Species list.

> They issued the warning to scare the crap out of him.
> They want to force him to use whatever power he has to
> bring a halt to terrorism in Israel.

That makes sense, in particular the reports surfacing
today of specific threats of some 60 planned attacks.

Assuming a terror blitz is in work, my bet is that
Arafat lacks the power to call off enough of those
attacks to save himself. Could get interesting if he
publically admits that.

> If it works it works and if it doesn't Israel better
> be prepared to kill him, or the homicide bombing rate
> will go off the charts.

If it works, it will work because the Israelis
established credibility with the Yassin affair.

And if it doesn't work, I've little doubt about their
preparations or resolve. Arafat may be about to win
a pieces prize. It would be fitting if the instrument
used contained some Nobel brand Dynamite.

[tubavil]

...to someone under the sway of "the uncontrollable madness of terrorism," said Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
=== === ===
Uh, Cardinal, terrorism is a *tactic*. Far from madness, it is extremely effective.

The [Evil] sway muslim terrorists are under is from the Evil One. How did you ever pass the Cardinal test?

[tubavil]

"I am the biggest Jew-killer since hitler!"

"Naturally, Israel allows me to live, and live in...Israel!"

"My recommendation to all genocidal, arab, muslim terrorists...Move To Israel...It's just da bomb."

[Caipirabob]

Oh boy...

[samtheman]

There are no plans to kill Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat "tomorrow,"

But certainly by the end of the week, I hope.

[PeaceCorpsGuy]

How do you say "Dead Man Walking" in Arabic?

[Piranha]

Still, "American and European security analysts agree that the Vatican could be a terrorist target," writes CWNews.com, a Catholic online service. They also agree that the danger of a terrorist attack will be particularly high on Easter Sunday.

The pope's opposition to the war in Iraq and against Israel's treatment of Palestinians may not matter to someone under the sway of "the uncontrollable madness of terrorism," said Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

You mean the Vatican still may be a target even though the Pope condemns Israel's treatment of Palestinians? Maybe it's time for the Pope to consider a fall-back position.

[Piranha]

Presidio9,

I notice that the Vatican (through Renato Martino) did not refer to the Vatican's pacifism, as you maintain, but rather to OPPOSITION to Israel vis a vis its treatment of Palestinian arabs -- with nary a word of condemnation of suicide bombings of innocent men, women and children in Israel who are celebrating Passover, preparing for weddings, riding buses, going to nightclubs, etc.

You have a beautiful theory, but the facts don't appear to be on your side unless you are prepared to deligitimize Martino as well.

[Redbob]

""Russia is consistently campaigning against the practice of out-of- court punishment, which goes against the norms of international law..."

So, are the Russians communicating this to the "Palestinians?"
The bombers, the terrorists, the thugs and street gangs?

[Squantos]

He'll die of old age first..........

[Darksheare]

"Arafat fair game for assassination.."

Finally!
Nail him already!

[DoughtyOne]

Hmmm, why do I get the feeling you're right?