KK-Forum,
Mens Jagland ber Peres om unnskyldning for sin statssekretærs anfall av
ærlig oppriktighet og Mona Juul gjør kneøvelser i Tel Aviv, kan Sunday
Times i dag melde om israelske planer om drap på eller deportasjon av
Arafats nærmeste medarbeidere. Se
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/Sunday-Times/frontpage.html?999
Knut Rognes
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April 1 2001
MIDDLE EAST
©
Rule of the bullet: Sharon is said to have ordered his army to draw up
plans to assassinate Arafat's top staff as clashes between Palestinians and
Israeli troops continued last week
Photograph: Pier Paolo Cito
Israeli plot to kill Arafat's key aides
Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv
THE Israeli government has drawn up plans to assassinate several of Yasser
Arafat's closest aides and arrest or deport hundreds of other leading
Palestinians, security sources said this weekend. The initiative follows
six months of violence that has claimed more than 400 lives.
The plans, details of which emerged last week, came as Ariel Sharon ordered
the Israeli army's paratroop Battalion 202 to take up position around
Hebron, the most rebellious of the Palestinian cities. Sharon once
commanded the elite unit.
Many Israelis were disappointed at what they regarded as a mild response by
their prime minister to three Palestinian bomb attacks in less than 24
hours last week. Two Israelis were killed, and in a separate incident a
10-month-old girl was shot by a sniper.
Sharon retaliated by launching an attack with helicopter gunships on Force
17, Arafat's personal security force, killing two of its members and a
Palestinian woman.
Israeli sources insisted, however, that this was only the be-ginning. They
said Sharon had ordered the army and security services to drawn up plans to
kill senior Arafat lieutenants.
Sources close to Sharon said he was confident that tough measures against
the Palestinian leader would force him to resume peace negotiations.
The list of targets is believed to include Marwan Barghouti, head of the
Tanzim, Arafat's militia on the West Bank, who is accused of direct
involvement in fatal attacks on Israelis. Palestinian sources said he was
already on the run.
Others accused of being in-volved in the attacks are thought to include
Brigadier-General Tawfiq Tirawi, head of Palestinian general intelligence
on the West Bank, and Mussa Arafat, a relative of the Palestinian leader,
who heads his military intelligence service.
Sharon has pledged to "continue to strike those who attack us and those who
send them".
"Yasser Arafat has remained a terrorist leader. This is well known around
the world, and Israel will defend itself against terrorism," he said. The
sources said Sharon would not target Arafat himself.
Drawing up plans: Ariel Sharon
Photograph: AFP
The extension of Israel's assassination campaign from less senior
Palestinians to the upper echelons of Arafat's entourage is part of a
broader plan to eliminate terrorism that Sharon is expected to start
implementing this week.
Proposals include temporarily retaking sensitive Palestinian areas such as
Beit Jalla near Bethlehem, and the Abu Sneina quarter of Hebron, in
operations to capture terrorists be-lieved to be sheltered there.
In an attempt to expose what they call "Arafat's corruption", the Israelis
are also planning to reveal details of secret bank accounts and the
fortunes they claim his staff have accumulated in the six years since their
return from Tunis to the Palestinian territories.
Sharon also took a file linking Arafat directly to terrorist activity
against Israel when he recently visited President George W Bush in America.
Tension in the region is increasing as the Passover holiday approaches.
Hamas, the fundamentalist Islamic group, has vowed to send seven
suicide-bomber "martyrs" into Israel, and Israeli security forces have
strengthened their presence throughout the country.
"I really hope that Sharon will beat the hell out of Arafat and his gang,"
said Hayim, a Tel Aviv restaurant owner. "We are fed up with him. Enough is
enough."
At least 332 Palestinians have been killed and 12,000 injured since the
beginning of the intifada six months ago. The fighting has also claimed the
lives of 70 Israelis and injured 550.
Opinion polls this weekend indicated that 63% of Israelis believe it will
be impossible to reach peace with the Palestinians during their lifetime.
Thousands of mourners demanding revenge marched in the West Bank town of
Nablus yesterday for the funerals of five Palestinians who had been shot.
In Ramallah, mourners carried the flag-covered body of a 21-year-old man
killed by Israeli troops.
There were also fears of tension in Hebron where Shalhevet Tass, the
10-month-old Israeli girl shot by a Palestinian sniper, was due to buried
today.
Yesterday the violence continued. Ten Palestinians - including two girls
aged two and seven - were wounded by Israeli troops on the Gaza Strip.
There were also unconfirmed Palestinian reports that their security forces
were staging manoeuvres to prepare for a possible Israeli assault.
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