Israel has 'no immediate plan to kill Arafat' despite Sharon threat
Mr Sharon said on Friday that he was no longer bound by a pledge he made to the United States not to harm Mr Arafat. The comments infuriated the Palestinians, and the White House said President Bush remains opposed to attacks on Mr Arafat.
Mr Arafat said yesterday that he wasn't afraid to die.
Ahead of an Israeli Cabinet meeting yesterday, Vice Premier Ehud Olmert and Minister Gideon Ezra said Mr Sharon has no immediate plans to expel or assassinate Mr Arafat. Instead, they said, Mr Sharon had repeated a long-standing Israeli position.
"The prime minister doesn't intend to carry out anything next week or today or tomorrow," Mr Olmert said. "He just repeated a general principle regarding Arafat, regarding the immunity that he thought he had."
Last September, Israel's Cabinet decided Mr Arafat should be "removed" after a pair of suicide bombings killed 15 Israelis. While Israel has threatened Mr Arafat since then, Mr Sharon took the threats to a new level on Friday by revealing he had discussed the Israeli position in a meeting with George W Bush.
Israel has killed dozens of militants, including the leaders of the Islamic group Hamas, in targeted attacks during 3½ years of fighting. But under US pressure, it has left Mr Arafat alone, confining him instead to his headquarters for two years.
About 400 Palestinian schoolchildren visited Mr Arafat at his West Bank headquarters yesterday, chanting anti-Sharon slogans and calling for an end to Israel's siege of the Palestinian leader.
Speaking to reporters afterward, Mr Arafat said he was not afraid to die. "Our destiny is to be martyrs in this holy land," he said. "We stand fast here until the end of our lives." Nonetheless, Palestinian officials said Mr Arafat is taking the threats seriously. Hani al-Hassan, a senior official in Arafat's Fatah movement, said the group had decided to boost security around Mr Arafat. He gave no further details.
Mr Sharon's threats appear to be aimed at winning support for his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements. Palestinian officials have criticised Mr Bush's backing for the plan, saying they undermine the negotiating process, and said US policy encouraged Sharon to make his latest threats against Arafat.
An estimated 700 Arafat supporters, including about 300 gunmen, rallied in the Gaza town of Rafah yesterday. They hoisted Palestinian flags and Arafat posters, and a group of children burned an effigy of Mr Sharon. In violence yesterday, a 13-year-old boy was hit by Israeli gunfire in Nablus after a group of youths threw stones at army vehicles. The army said it hadn't used live gunfire and did not know of anyone being hit.
In Gaza, Palestinians fired two homemade rockets into a Jewish settlement, damaging a house, the army said.
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