Sharon Attacks Gaza And Escalates Political Discourse To Remove Arafat

Fathi Sabbah     Al-Hayat      2003/10/21

Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pursued his on-the-ground and political escalation against the Palestinian people, as barely a few hours following the raids against Gaza, he announced from the Knesset that he is determined to "remove" President Yasser Arafat, describing him as the "greatest obstacle to peace," and that he will speed up the construction of the "separation wall." He also described the Roadmap as the only hope for reaching a settlement.

The Palestinians hadn't yet emerged from the three harsh attacks in Gaza, which killed three Palestinian including two Hamas activists, when Sharon announced in his opening speech at the Knesset's winter session that Arafat is the one who foiled and is still foiling any progress in the peace process, adding: "This man is the biggest obstacle to peace and therefore Israel is determined to bring about his removal from the political arena."

Sharon Retracts

Therefore, Sharon returned to his government's decision last month to expulse Arafat. He had backed down from it under international pressure, and only last week, he had told the Jerusalem Post that he had changed his mind for the time being regarding expulsing Arafat because it was not good for Israel.

In parallel, Sharon described the Roadmap as the only hope for achieving a real breakthrough for peace with the Palestinians, noting that it is a plan that is accepted by the majority of states in the world. He called upon Palestinians to respect their commitments, to eradicate terrorism, to pursue reforms, to form a government that will fight terrorism and to stop encouraging terrorism through the media and in school curricula. He said that Israel will continue to ease measures against Palestinian civilians but at the same time, security forces will continue to deploy efforts to stop terrorism.

Saeb Erakat argued that Sharon only reiterated his determination to destroy the Roadmap, because he conditioned it to the 14 reservations of the Israeli government. Speaking to AFP, he explained that Sharon is determined to destroy the peace process by building settlements and the separation wall, as well as the use of military power. He also said that Sharon's statements about Arafat were totally rejected, because Arafat is the elected President for the Palestinian people.