Sharon defends siege of Arafat HQ

Defending a week-long siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s compound, Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon today said some of the wanted men holed up inside are “the biggest terrorists that exist”.

Israel has drawn intense international criticism for the assault on Arafat’s headquarters, launched in response to a Tel Aviv bus bombing that killed six people.

In Israel, the operation has also been challenged, with critics saying it has frozen Palestinian reform efforts and boosted Arafat’s standing at a time when his Fatah movement was trying to force him to share power.

About 200 aides and members of the security forces are with Arafat in the largely demolished compound. They are confined to a few rooms on two floors of a wing of the main office building. Arafat has said he would not turn anyone over.

In an interview published today in The Jerusalem Post newspaper, Sharon said “a great deal of thought” went into the assault – an apparent response to reports that senior military officials expressed reservations about the operation to Sharon before it was launched.

Israel TV quoted the officers as saying Sharon wanted quick action.

Sharon told the paper that those with Arafat are “a group of murderers, the biggest terrorists that exist”.

Israel never provided a list of names, but said the most wanted man inside was Tawfik Tirawi, the Palestinian intelligence chief in the West Bank. The military has said Tirawi helped fund militias and was involved in several shooting attacks.

Tirawi has denied the allegations. Israeli commentators noted that only a few months ago, Tirawi participated in talks with Israeli security chiefs.

And Sharon brushed aside the growing US criticism as a disagreement among friends. He said Palestinian militants were trying to step up attacks on Israelis ahead of a possible US attack on Iraq.

“Their operating assumption is that the closer we come to a US attack on Iraq, the more difficult it will be for Israel to respond to terrorism,” Sharon said.

“They understand that Israel does not want to cause difficulties for the United States.”