Sharon dilutes Arafat assassination threat
Israel does not intend to assassinate Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, deputy prime minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday, despite pressure from right wing politicians.
Ariel Sharon made clear last week he was prepared to renege on a pledge made three years ago with the US Bush not to harm the veteran Palestinian leader.
But Mr Olmert speaking on Israeli Army Radio said his leader had since rethought his position and now “does not intend to implement his threats, not today, not tomorrow, nor next week.”
And Mr Olmert said the assassination threat may make Mr Arafat think twice about condoning terrorism.
Israel accuses the under-house-arrest Palestinian leader of condoning Palestinian terrorism over the last three years.
Mr Arafat said Friday he was neither unafraid of Sharon’s threats nor to die for the Palestinian cause. “He has a history of attempting to target me.”
Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qureia called the threats “dangerous and frightening.”
“Like every Palestinian militant, Yasser Arafat knows that his life is in no way assured, but an adversary has no right to threaten the life of an elected president as Sharon has done,” Mr Qureia said on Sunday.
Israel recently killed Hamas leader Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi and fellow co-founder of the militant Islamic group Ahmed Yassin.
