No attack on Arafat 'for now'

2004-04-25 13:47

Jerusalem - Israel has no imminent plans to kill Yasser Arafat, despite Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's latest threats against the Palestinian leader, Israel's vice premier said on Sunday.

Sharon said on Friday that he was no longer bound by an obligation he made to the United States not to harm Arafat. The comments infuriated the Palestinians, and the White House quickly said it remains opposed to attacks on Arafat.

As the Israeli cabinet prepared to meet on Sunday morning, two ministers said Sharon has no imminent plans to expel or assassinate Arafat. Instead, they said, Sharon had repeated a long-standing Israeli position.

"The prime minister doesn't intend to carry out anything next week or today or tomorrow," vice premier Ehud Olmert, a Sharon confidant, told Army Radio. "He just repeated a general principle regarding Arafat, regarding the immunity that he thought he had."

Olmert later said that Sharon's comments "terrified" Arafat and were meant as a "deterrence."

Last September, Israel's cabinet decided Arafat should be "removed" after a pair of suicide bombings killed 15 Israelis. While Israel has repeatedly threatened Arafat since then, Sharon took the threats to a new level by revealing he had discussed the Israeli position in a meeting with US President George W. Bush.

Cabinet Minister Gideon Ezra told Israel Radio that Sharon's comments were intended only to "threaten Arafat and his people to start taking matters into their hands."

Sharon's comments appear to be aimed at bolstering support for his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements. The ruling Likud Party is holding a referendum on the plan on May 2, and polls show that Sharon has only a small lead.

- AP