One Palestinian Killed as Israel Defies UN over Arafat Exile

13/09/2003| IslamWeb

Israeli forces clashing with resistance fighters in the West Bank town of Nablus overnight killing an 80-year-old bystander, witnesses said. Occupation military sources said troops sought to arrest a local guerrilla but had no word on the dead bystander. Also in the West Bank, the army discovered three bomb belts in a Bethlehem area butcher shop, Israeli security sources said. They accused Islamic resistance group Hamas of plotting follow-ups to two bombings that killed 15 people on Tuesday. The Israeli security cabinet responded to those attacks with a decision to "remove" Arafat "in a manner that will be determined separately", provoking worldwide protests from governments and activists alike. Meanwhile, Israel has brushed aside a UN Security Council warning not to go through with its threat to exile Palestinian President Yasir Arafat, saying its national security is at stake In the face of overwhelming world opinion, Ariel Sharon has vowed to press ahead with removing Arafat, the figurehead of Palestinian hopes for statehood. **UN warning*** The UN Security Council warned Israel on Friday against such a move. "Council members expressed the view that the removal of Mr Arafat would be unhelpful and should not be implemented," Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry of Britain said. Israel rejected the call. "With all due respect, Arafat is a master terrorist. We will not abjure our right to self-defence," a source close to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said. With US backing, Israel blames Arafat for fomenting violence in an almost three-year-old Palestinian uprising in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip - a charge he denies. But Washington does not want the 74-year-old ex-guerrilla leader exiled, fearing this would finish off a US-led "road map" to Middle East peace already in tatters following Israeli extra judicial assassination attempts on Palestinian leaders in which many civilians died, and renewed Palestinian bombing attacks. Israeli special forces are trained to pluck Arafat from his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where army blockades have kept him largely confined for the past 21 months, and whisk him to an unspecified location abroad. The wording of Thursday's security cabinet decision left open the option of assassinating Arafat - a proposal that Israeli newspapers said Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz raised but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vetoed. Palestinians throughout the territories rallied in Arafat's support and pledged to defend him with their lives. There were similar protests by Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan. "What the criminal decision made by the Israeli cabinet has done is really beyond all expectations. There is spontaneous support (for Arafat) by the Palestinian people," Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Nabil Shaath said. **Tent barricade*** A number of Palestinians, particularly Fatah members, have set up tents around Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, in an attempt to protect their leader from Israeli Forces, Aljazeera reported. On Friday Israeli troops evacuated the buildings surrounding Arafat's compound, which they had previously occupied, the channel's correspondent said. After Israel's decision to exile Arafat, Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Quraya suspended efforts to form a cabinet. He was to take over from Mahmud Abbas, who quit a week ago accusing Arafat and Israel of undermining him. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Palestinian President Yasser Arafat gestures during a rally in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, September 13, 2003. (REUTERS/Ammar Awad)