Powell: Arafat threat could incite Muslims

Israel would incite rage not only among Arabs but also Muslims everywhere by exiling or executing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, US Secretary of State Colin Powell warned today.

Powell, speaking from Baghdad during a visit to Iraq, also said that Israeli politicians are not helping the US-sponsored peace process with such statements as vice prime minister Ehud Olmert’s comment today that “killing (Arafat) is definitely one of the options” under consideration by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government.