ISRAEL: In one of the most brazen remarks yet by a senior Israeli politician on the fate of Yasser Arafat, Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Mr Ehud Olmert said yesterday that "killing [the Palestinian leader] is definitely one of the options" being considered by the Israeli government.
"We are trying to eliminate all the heads of terror, and Arafat is one of the heads of terror," said Mr Olmert, whose comments follow a decision, in principle, by the security cabinet last week to "remove" the Palestinian Authority President, following two suicide bombings that killed 15 people. The decision was intentionally vague, with the cabinet not saying exactly how it planned to get rid of Mr Arafat.
"In my eyes, from a moral point of view, this is no different from killing others who were involved in ... acts of terror," he added. "It's only a practical question. What is the benefit? What will the reaction be? What circumstances will allow this?"
Mr Olmert's remarks are the latest in a wave of ever-escalating anti-Arafat rhetoric that appears to be leaving Israeli leaders with less and less room in which to pull back from the brink when the next nauseatingly predictable suicide attack takes place and the issue of removing Mr Arafat is back on the cabinet table.
The comments are also particularly significant in that they were made by one of the most senior figures in the cabinet.
Some Israeli officials professed to being unfazed by the storm of criticism the cabinet decision had stirred up. Israel, they contend, is preparing the ground for the ultimate removal of Mr Arafat by softening world opinion in stages.
The removal of the 74-year-old Palestinian leader, however, could signal the disintegration of the Palestinian Authority and unleash anarchy upon the West Bank and Gaza.
A senior Palestinian Authority official, Mr Saeb Erekat, described a scenario in which, in the absence of Mr Arafat, militant Palestinian groups direct their anger at Palestinian leaders willing to talk to Israel.
Israeli officials have tried to explain American opposition to eliminating Mr Arafat as merely tactical.
But Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell seemed to leave little doubt about the US position yesterday, saying Mr Olmert's comments were unhelpful. Talking to US television networks after arriving in Baghdad, Mr Powell said America did "not support either the elimination of him or the exile of Mr Arafat The Israelis know our position quite well."
A Palestinian boy was shot dead by Israeli troops on the West Bank yesterday.
The army said troops fired at the legs of a group of Palestinian youths who broke through a fence on to an Israeli airstrip in the West Bank, north of Jerusalem.