OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 10 February 2003 — Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday one of the main tasks of his new government would be removing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, as the revelation of new high-level contacts was met with an attack on an Israeli Army post in Gaza.
“The new government will face difficult tasks: The war against terrorism and against its leader, the head of the Palestinian Authority,” said Sharon after President Moshe Katsav officially asked him to form a new coalition after last month’s elections.
“The new government will have to finish off the battle against terrorism, remove its leadership and create conditions for the emergence of a new leadership with which it will be able to reach a real peace,” he said.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat was quick to condemn the newly re-elected premier’s remarks, which he said showed Sharon had no interest in peace.
“This means ... Sharon rejects the peace process and has chosen the path of continuing his aggression against the Palestinians,” he told AFP.
The daily Yediot Aharonot said yesterday that Sharon and US President George W. Bush had agreed on a plan to get rid of Arafat after the United States had removed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
“It was agreed that Israel could banish Yasser Arafat and his associates from the (occupied) territories if he refuses to appoint a prime minister endowed with the power to run the self-rule authority” set up in 1994, the daily said.
Meanwhile, three Palestinians blew up their explosives-laden car next to a Gaza Strip army post, killing themselves and wounding four soldiers. The Islamic Jihad group said three of its members carried out a “heroic martyrdom operation against a Zionist military checkpoint”. The three Palestinians were killed when their car rammed a concrete barrier guarding the position and exploded. (Agencies)
