MIDDLE EAST: After his deputy suggested last month that Israel was considering killing Yasser Arafat, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday that his government had no plans to assassinate the Palestinian Authority President.
Hizbullah militants, meanwhile, shelled Israeli army positions in a disputed border area yesterday, lightly injuring one soldier and drawing Israeli artillery fire and airstrikes on its positions in south Lebanon.
"I don't see any plans to kill him, though the man is responsible for the deaths of hundreds, of thousands of mostly civilians," Mr Sharon told a delegation of lawmakers from the European Parliament who are visiting Israel.
"You don't have to worry, he's alive and not only is he alive but very active in taking all the . . . steps . . . that bring to murder of children, civilians, the old," he added.
After two Hamas suicide bombings killed 15 Israelis on September 9th, the security cabinet took a decision to "remove" Mr Arafat, but remained vague as to how this would be accomplished. Earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said one option being considered was killing the Palestinian leader.
Many have speculated that if Mr Sharon does go through with the security cabinet decision, he will opt for deporting Mr Arafat from the territories. But the prime minister has so far balked, in part due to US pressure. The Bush administration fears that any drastic Israeli action against Mr Arafat will destabilise the region as it desperately tries to stabilise Iraq.
The Americans, however, appear to have had less success in influencing Israeli policy in another area - settlements. After the government last week published tenders for the construction of over 300 new West Bank homes, a Defence Ministry official said yesterday that several illegal settlement outposts would begin receiving services, including construction of a security fence, lighting and transport to school for children living there.
A parliamentary committee voted yesterday to allot around $30 million to implement housing plans, mainly in settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.
According to the first phase of the US-backed road map for peace, Israel is supposed to dismantle some 100 of these small hilltop outposts. Shortly after the Aqaba peace summit in June, Mr Sharon ordered the evacuation of about a dozen, but soon ceased dismantling them and a similar number have since been built by settlers. Israel says it will not continue implementation of the map until the Palestinian Authority moves against militant groups.
The Hizbullah fire yesterday was the first time in two months that the group had targeted Israeli positions in the disputed Chebaa Farm area, known by Israel as Har Dov. The UN says the area is not Lebanese territory, but was captured by Israel from Syria in 1967 and its future must be determined in talks between Jerusalem and Damascus.