Israel demands Arafat’s immediate expulsion
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Sunday called for the immediate expulsion of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from the Palestinian territories.
His counsel comes after the shock resignation of reformist Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
His departure threatens to derail indefinitely the “road map” for peace in the Middle East
He said Arafat’s expulsion was an “inevitable result” given his many years of “involvement in terrorism,” Mr Shalom said on Israeli radio.
Mr Abbas tendered his resignation Saturday, according to his chief negotiator, after failing to convince Mr Arafat to relinquish his control of security forces.
Mr Abbas called Thursday for Palestinian parliamentarians “to back him or sack him” and was preparing to confront a no-confidence vote next week.
Mr Shalom said Mr Arafat over many years had done everything “to cause the murder of Israelis and block any possibility” of peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians.
Should Mr Abbas stand down as prime minister, his departure leaves a political vacuum that analysts believe could not be filled by an acolyte of Mr Arafat.
Israel said it would not accept “control over the Palestinian Authority [reverting] back to Yasser Arafat or one of his loyalists.”
On Saturday, EU foreign ministers meeting at Riva del Garda, the northern lakeside town in Italy, unanimously backed plans to blacklist Hamas as a “terrorist organisation.”
