top
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Israel decides on expulsion or the execution of Arafat

by Haaretz
The cabinet decided not to elaborate on exactly
what Arafat's "removal" would entail, whether
it meant the expulsion or the execution of the
PA chairman.
The security cabinet decided Thursday that Arafat
"is a complete obstacle to any process of
reconciliation between Israel and the
Palestinians. Israel will work to remove this
obstacle in a manner, and at a time, of its choosing."

The decision came during ameeting of the 11-minister strong security cabinet,convened by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to discussIsrael's response to two suicide bombings in a Jerusalemcafe and outside an IDF base near Rishon Letzion on Tuesday, in which 15 people were killed.

Sharon has "instructed the security forces to
act relentlessly, continuously and determinedly
to eliminate the terrorist organizations and
take all appropriate measures against their
leaders, commanders and operatives until their
criminal activity is halted," said a statement
issued by the prime minister after the meeting.


Sources said that the security cabinet had also
decided to ask the Israel Defense Forces to
draw up a plan for the expulsion Arafat.

Following the decision, Arafat told thousands of
Palestinians rallying to his side he would stay
put in his headquarters come what may.

"You are brave people, my loved ones. Abu Ammar
is staying here," he said, using his nom de
guerre while blowing kisses to the throngs
outside his half-demolished West Bank compound
to which he has been confined by IDF troops for
most of the past 21 months.

"You are the ones who are capable of responding
to this Israeli threat," Arafat, dressed in his
usual military uniform, told the
slogan-chanting crowd.

Using a bullhorn, Arafat recited a passage from
the Koran about being steadfast in the face of
an oppressor.

He also said: "We are on sacred land, and we
will protect our holy Christian and Muslim
places. We send a message to the detainees, and
to the prisoners, together all the way to
Jerusalem."

He then led the crowd in a chant, waving his
finger in rhythm: "To Jerusalem, to Jerusalem,
to Jerusalem."

Arafat's Fatah movement urged Palestinians to
stay around the clock at his headquarters to
protect the PA chairman from any Israeli
attempt to force him into exile.

"It is true the Palestinians do not own tanks
but they own the determination to resist this
Israeli decision. We call on the Palestinian
people to be present at Abu Ammar's [Arafat]
compound day and night so the occupiers realize
that the people will defend their leadership,"
senior Fatah official Ahmed Ghneim told
reporters.

Palestinians poured onto the streets of cities
in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after word
spread of the Israeli decision.

"President Arafat is a red line and the whole
territory will turn red if he is harmed,"
declared a banner held aloft by demonstrators
in a crowd of around 7,000 that marched to his
Ramallah headquarters.

Red tracer bullets fired by masked militants
crisscrossed the night sky over Gaza. Radio
stations blared Palestinian nationalist songs
and took in a flood of phone calls in praise of
Arafat.

The decision on removing Arafat was made without
a vote, with Interior Minister Avraham Poraz
(Shinui) the sole minister opposed to the move.
The cabinet decided not to elaborate on exactly
what Arafat's "removal" would entail, whether
it meant the expulsion or the execution of the
PA chairman.

Poraz said that the United States was opposed to
any attempt to harm Arafat, and that he had
heard a similar message from U.S. Ambassador to
Israel Dan Kurtzer.

Israeli officials also said earlier that the
U.S. continues to oppose Arafat's expulsion.

During the debate at the Defense Ministry in Tel
Aviv, Sharon called Arafat a "murderer," and
Education Minister Limor Livnat said that there
was no moral difference the American desire to
capture ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and
Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and Israel's
attempt to strike at Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed
Yassin. She added that there was "no moral
difference between them and Arafat."

Qureia shelves bid to form government
Following the decision, Palestinian Prime
Minister-designate Ahmed Qureia said he was
shelving his bid to form a government.

"This is an adventurous and grave decision
that... finishes off any attempt by me to form
a new cabinet," he said. "[If implemented],
this grave and adventurous decision would not
only blow up the Palestinian territories but
also the entire region."

A senior Palestinian security official condemned
the decision as "stupid," saying that it would
destabilize the Middle East.

"Harming Arafat or expelling him will
destabilize the region and will only bring
disaster to the Israeli people," the official
said.

"Occupation is terrorism and the Israelis have
to realize that if they implement this stupid
decision then they are committing a crime
against their own people and against stability
in the region."

Arafat vowed earlier Thursday to stay put,
despite the IDF commandeering a building
overlooking his compound in the West Bank city
of Ramallah earlier in the day as a "message"
to him and his PA.

"No one can kick me out," Arafat said. Asked if
he would leave of his own accord, he said,
"definitely not."

"This is my homeland. This is terra sancta. No
one can kick me out," he told reporters. "They
can kill me. They have bombs," he said.

Arafat called on the quartet of the United
States, Russia, Europe and the United Nations
to "move quickly to protect peace and the road
map" peace plan.

U.S.: Expulsion 'would not be helpful'
The United States has notified Israel it is
opposed to Arafat's expulsion even though "he
is part of the problem and not part of the
solution" in the tense standoff with the
Palestinians.

"We think that it would not be helpful to expel
him because it would just give him another
stage to play on," spokesman Richard Boucher
said.

"The Israeli government is very clear on what
our views are on these things and I think
understands clearly our position," Boucher
said.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Israel
not to opt for exile, saying the veteran leader
was crucial to peace moves.

A spokeswoman for European Union foreign policy
chief Javier Solana expressed "great concern"
at the news.

"This is precisely the moment when people should
make every possible effort to avoid steps that
lead to an escalation and that lead to even
more tension," Cristina Gallach said.

She added that it was "absolutely necessary for
Israel to weigh carefully the consequences of
such an action."

Peres: Israel should not act in anger
Labor Party Chairman Shimon Peres, in Washington
for talks, said that Israel should not act out
of anger, even if it was justified. "While we
have to fight terror we must be careful not to
escalate the situation," he said.

Peres urged Sharon's government to deal with
Ahmed Qureia, the new Palestinian prime
minister. Qureia "understands terror and peace
do not work together, and he prefers peace,"
Peres said.

He also faulted the government as not having
"kept its promise" on halting settlement
activity.

At the same time, Peres, who shared the 1994
Nobel Peace Prize with Arafat and then prime
minister Yitzhak Rabin, said he was against
expulsion even though Arafat was a problem.

"Occasionally you have to live with problems
without solving them," Peres said. He
criticized the government for its treatment of
Arafat, saying it had "tortured him mentally."


IDF moves into Muqata area
Earlier Thursday, IDF soldiers in the West Bank
city of Ramallah commandeered the Palestinian
Authority Culture Ministry building,
Palestinian sources told Israel Radio.

The radio said the troops took over the top
floor of the building, which overlooks Arafat's
headquarters, forcing all of the officials
working there to leave.

A military official said the building has a
commanding view of what transpires in the
Muqata, the radio reported, describing the
take-over as "deterrent in nature" and quoting
him as saying, "At this stage we are speakingof
a message and a signal to the Palestinian
Authority and Yasser Arafat."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/339400.html
Add Your Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Yassir Arafat
Thu, Feb 16, 2006 12:25PM
Boswell
Mon, Sep 15, 2003 3:14PM
Angie
Mon, Sep 15, 2003 2:44PM
CLINTONS LEGACY
Mon, Sep 15, 2003 1:21AM
anti Angie
Mon, Sep 15, 2003 1:16AM
Angie
Mon, Sep 15, 2003 12:44AM
anti Angie
Mon, Sep 15, 2003 12:15AM
Angie
Mon, Sep 15, 2003 12:05AM
anti Angie
Sun, Sep 14, 2003 11:44PM
anarchist
Sun, Sep 14, 2003 10:33AM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network