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Palestinian president revels among the Ramallah wreckage as US puts immense pressure on Sharon to row back on threat to banish him
Chris McGreal in Ramallah
Saturday September 13, 2003
The Guardian
The United States led a barrage of international pressure on Israel yesterday not to carry out its threat to exile Yasser Arafat or otherwise remove him as an "obstacle to peace".
The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, telephoned his Israeli counterpart, Silvan Shalom, to warn that banishing the Palestinian president would strengthen Mr Arafat's hand at a time when both countries have been trying to isolate him, and would undermine hopes of a peace deal.
Ariel Sharon's security cabinet surprised the US on Thursday by declaring Mr Arafat an obstacle to peace whom it intends to remove. The wording was ambiguous, but it was generally interpreted as a threat to force the Palestinian president into exile. Some Arafat supporters said it could mean the Israelis wanted to imprison or assassinate him.
The move drew a threat of fresh violence from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a faction of Mr Arafat's Fatah movement, which promised new suicide bombings if Israel banishes the Palestinian president.
"We tell the criminal Sharon, your people will pay dearly because a wave of martyrs will blow up everyone living in Israel," it said in a statement.
Yesterday, the US ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, told the Israeli defence minister, Shaul Mofaz, that Mr Arafat must not be deported or harmed. Mr Mofaz, the most powerful voice in Israel's cabinet after Mr Sharon, hinted at Thursday's meeting that the Mr Arafat should be killed.
Yesterday, he said the Israeli government would stick by its decision. "The security cabinet decided that Israel will act to remove the obstacle Arafat at the time and in the manner that will be decided on separately," he said. "I am convinced the state of Israel made a historic mistake by not taking this decision earlier."
Others joined the US criticism. The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, said expelling Mr Arafat would be "unwise". Britain's foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said that banishing the Mr Arafat would ultimately harm Israel. "I urge Israel not to allow justified anger at the continuing violence to lead to actions that will undermine both the peace process and Israel's own interests," he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Arafat was exactly where he wanted to be yesterday: still stuck among the rubble and flattened cars of his compound, which was wrecked by Israeli tanks and rockets last year. After months of relative isolation, he was once again being heralded as the ultimate symbol of Palestinian defiance in the face of Israeli aggression. And, best of all from the Palestinian president's view, it was Mr Sharon that put him back on top.
After a rapturous reception from thousands of supporters in the early hours of yesterday, Mr Arafat emerged later for the only journey he ever makes these days: the short walk from his living quarters to the compound mosque for Friday prayers. The preacher spoke of David and Goliath, and the meek inheriting the earth.
A clutch of Palestinian politicians wandered around the compound, known as the Muqata, marvelling at what they described as the stupidity of the decision to exile Mr Arafat. "This is the most stupid, fascist and ludicrous deci sion that stupid cabinet has ever taken," said Jibril Rajoub, the Palestinian president's security advisor.
A Palestinian cabinet minister, Azam al Ahmad, agreed. "I don't think whoever took that decision understands the reality. Arafat's an elected leader. Nobody will dare speak on behalf of the Palestinian people while he is alive if they force him into exile," he said.
Foreign diplomats say that is their greatest concern, aside from violence than might be provoked by exiling Mr Arafat.
"Palestinian governments are legitimised by Arafat. He may undermine them but they derive their authority, and therefore their acceptance by the Palestinian people, from Arafat," said one diplomat.
"If the Israelis take that away by removing him entirely, then no Palestinian government can function. It will be seen as collaborationist; it will have no legitimacy. I wouldn't be surprised if its members weren't killed by Arafat's supporters. Certainly it would not be in any position to negotiate any kind of concessions as part of a peace deal with Israel."
Such considerations were not on the minds of Israeli ministers at Thursday's security cabinet meeting, which was called in the wake of two devastating suicide bombings that killed a total of 15 people.
Most of the cabinet would have liked to order Mr Arafat's immediate deportation. But, in the hours before the meeting, the White House and US state department put pressure on Mr Sharon not to allow that to happen.
Israel's intelligence services had also advised the cabinet against exiling Mr Arafat, arguing that it would benefit him and harm the country. Some intelligence officials recognised that if the Palestinian president were sitting abroad, he would be free of the pressures that will force him to compromise and no one else will dare take his place.
But with eight of the 11 members of the security cabinet clamouring for action against the Palestinian president, US objections no longer carried the same weight. Mr Sharon set the tone by describing Mr Arafat as "one of the most terrible murderers who ever rose up against the Jewish people".
"He has not devoted a second to a life with women or children. He has brought disaster on his people and on Israel. We cannot end this war without ending his rule," he said.
The cabinet reached a compromise - exile later - that was only mildly less disturbing to the US.
Ministers left the decision on how and when to move against Mr Arafat with the Israeli prime minister and Mr Mofaz. But having raised the threat, it will be hard for Mr Sharon to resist some form of action against the Palestinian president when the next atrocity rocks Israel and grabs international attention.
Certainly there will be public pressure. An opinion poll published yesterday found that 60% of Israelis want Mr Arafat either banished or killed, even though 42% believe that either move would not reduce terrorism.
One cabinet minister, Limor Livnat, said that when the time comes, US objections will not hold sway. "Israel is a sovereign state and though it has a close and friendly important relationship with America, it doesn't take orders from America," she said.
The Israeli army has been prepared to snatch and deport Mr Arafat for more than two years. An Israeli newspaper yesterday reported that soldiers have been trained to abduct him by helicopter and the plan remains on the table.
But some in the Muqata doubt that the Israelis could detain Mr Arafat without bloodshed that could cost the Palestinian president his life. Mr Arafat has sworn not to be taken alive.
Other critics of the plan to exile the Palestinian president believe Mr Sharon might opt for an alternative, less diplomatically damaging option of further imprisoning him.
The Israelis could fairly easily cut off Mr Arafat's contact with the outside world, severing his phone connections, blocking his mobile and satellite signals, and even barring all human contact
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