Israel decides to exile Arafat

From combined dispatches

Israel decided in principle yesterday to exile Palestinian President Yasser Arafat after a wave of suicide bombings but decided not to do so immediately, sources close to the government said.

Israel’s security Cabinet also decided to speed up construction of a security fence through the West Bank.

The decision by Israel’s security Cabinet to brand Mr. Arafat an obstacle to peace and to “remove this obstacle” brought tens of thousands of Palestinians onto the streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to rally behind the former guerrilla leader.

Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qureia said he was suspending efforts to form a Cabinet because of the Israeli decision.

“You are brave people, my loved ones. Abu Ammar is staying here,” Mr. Arafat told thousands of people in front of his devastated headquarters in Ramallah in the West Bank, using his nom de guerre as he blew kisses and flashed V-for-victory signs.

“You are the ones who are capable of responding to this Israeli threat,” he said, dressed in military uniform and wearing his trademark Arab keffiyeh, or head scarf.

The protests were the largest for months in support of Mr. Arafat, whom the United States and Israel have tried to sideline after accusing him of fomenting violence in a 3-year-old uprising against Israeli occupation. He denies the charge.

Mr. Arafat’s Fatah movement urged its followers to occupy Mr. Arafat’s headquarters night and day to prevent an army assault.

Mr. Qureia, Mr. Arafat’s choice as prime minister to replace moderate Mahmoud Abbas who quit on Saturday saying his peace efforts had been stymied, said exiling Mr. Arafat would end peace hopes.

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

Hopes of ending the conflict have rarely seemed so slim.

A wave of Palestinian suicide bombings and a series of Israeli air strikes that have killed 12 Islamist militants since a suicide bombing on Aug. 19 have plunged the region into new violence and buried the “road map” to peace in blood.

The security Cabinet’s decision amounted to an ultimatum to the Palestinians to crack down on Islamist militant groups, as mandated under the road map, political analysts said.

The United States, the driving force behind the collapsing road map, said that expelling Mr. Arafat would give him publicity.

“We don’t believe that dealing with Mr. Arafat […] through expulsion is going to be helpful at all with the situation,” a State Department spokesman said. “It would just give him another stage to play on.”

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Israel not to opt for exile, saying the veteran leader was crucial to peace moves. The European Union expressed “great concern.”

Any attempt to expel Mr. Arafat, who controls the most important Palestinian security forces despite the U.S. and Israeli efforts to isolate him, could end in bloodshed and endanger his life.

Mr. Arafat, 74, who wears his military uniform almost all the time and keeps a pistol at his side, has said he would be ready to die rather than give himself up.

It is not clear how Israel would pluck Mr. Arafat from his headquarters, even though they are half demolished from previous army raids, or where he would be cast into exile.Arafat has been confined to his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah for the last 20 months.

He has in the past taken refuge in Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia, but such states would be unlikely to welcome him now.

Israel’s security Cabinet, which groups top government ministers and security officials, met for several hours to discuss how to respond to two suicide bombings that killed 15 persons in Israel on Tuesday.

A statement released by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office did not include any specific reference to expelling Mr. Arafat. But the sources close to the government confirmed the decision in principle had been made, largely as a threat to the Palestinian Authority.

The sources said the security Cabinet had decided not to expel Mr. Arafat immediately because of U.S. opposition and the army had been told to prepare a plan to exile Mr. Arafat.

“The events of recent days prove again that Yasser Arafat is the absolute obstacle to any process of conciliation between the Israeli and Palestinian people,” Mr. Sharon’s office said.

“Israel will act to remove this obstacle in a manner that will be determined separately.”

The statement said Mr. Sharon had issued guidelines to the security forces to act day and night against militants and not stop until the Palestinian Authority cracked down itself.

Mr. Arafat has long been Mr. Sharon’s enemy, but the Israeli leader has long rejected calls by right-wing members of his coalition government to exile or assassinate the Palestinian president.