Yesterday the Senior U.S. Senator from New York, Chuck Shumer, went before the Washington cameras to denounce Yasser Arafat as a "terrorist" and demand he comply with U.S./Israeli dictate or else. Standing right next to him and appearing to endorse the surrender or else terms was none other than the Junior Senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Incidentally this is the same person who as first lady of the United States in recent years welcomed the same Yasser Arafat to the Clinton White House many more times than any other foreign leader.

When "Oslo" was signed at the White House in September 1993 the Israelis probably thought they could get Arafat to do a Sadat. He would sign the legal papers legitimizing Israel and her conquests, then either be assassasinated or die making it all but impossible for any future Palestinian leader to go back on what had been done. History would have been written so to speak; and indeed that's why all the hoopla on the White House lawn with Rabin and Arafat and some 3000 invited guests was all about.

This then is the real reason Arafat was so welcomed, paid so much money, tolerated for so long, hugged and kissed so many times. And it was all a prelude to the future agreements Arafat did in fact sign after Oslo in Cairo, Sharm, Hebron, Wye River, Washington...ad infinitum. Then they tried one final final time at Camp David II, pushing Arafat to the brink knowing they were largely finished with him anyway and probably still hoping some one from his own would finally do him in.

And here we are in the new millenium, the big thug and accused war-criminal Ariel Sharon now empowered by the Israelis, and OKed by the Americans, to do the so far undone deeds; and none other than Arafat's fellow Nobel Prize Winner (what a travesty that was as well) Shimon Peres to front for it all now as Israeli Foreign Minister.

Rule of the bullet: Sharon is said to have ordered his army to draw up plans to assassinate Arafat's top staff as clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops continued last week

[Sunday Times, UK, 1 April] THE Israeli government has drawn up plans to assassinate several of Yasser Arafat's closest aides and arrest or deport hundreds of other leading Palestinians, security sources said this weekend. The initiative follows six months of violence that has claimed more than 400 lives.

The plans, details of which emerged last week, came as Ariel Sharon ordered the Israeli army's paratroop Battalion 202 to take up position around Hebron, the most rebellious of the Palestinian cities. Sharon once commanded the elite unit.

Many Israelis were disappointed at what they regarded as a mild response by their prime minister to three Palestinian bomb attacks in less than 24 hours last week. Two Israelis were killed, and in a separate incident a 10-month-old girl was shot by a sniper.

Sharon retaliated by launching an attack with helicopter gunships on Force 17, Arafat's personal security force, killing two of its members and a Palestinian woman.

Israeli sources insisted, however, that this was only the beginning. They said Sharon had ordered the army and security services to drawn up plans to kill senior Arafat lieutenants.

Sources close to Sharon said he was confident that tough measures against the Palestinian leader would force him to resume peace negotiations.

The list of targets is believed to include Marwan Barghouti, head of the Tanzim, Arafat's militia on the West Bank, who is accused of direct involvement in fatal attacks on Israelis. Palestinian sources said he was already on the run.

Others accused of being in-volved in the attacks are thought to include Brigadier-General Tawfiq Tirawi, head of Palestinian general intelligence on the West Bank, and Mussa Arafat, a relative of the Palestinian leader, who heads his military intelligence service.

Sharon has pledged to "continue to strike those who attack us and those who send them".

"Yasser Arafat has remained a terrorist leader. This is well known around the world, and Israel will defend itself against terrorism," he said. The sources said Sharon would not target Arafat himself.

The extension of Israel's assassination campaign from less senior Palestinians to the upper echelons of Arafat's entourage is part of a broader plan to eliminate terrorism that Sharon is expected to start implementing this week.

Proposals include temporarily retaking sensitive Palestinian areas such as Beit Jalla near Bethlehem, and the Abu Sneina quarter of Hebron, in operations to capture terrorists be-lieved to be sheltered there.

In an attempt to expose what they call "Arafat's corruption", the Israelis are also planning to reveal details of secret bank accounts and the fortunes they claim his staff have accumulated in the six years since their return from Tunis to the Palestinian territories.

Sharon also took a file linking Arafat directly to terrorist activity against Israel when he recently visited President George W Bush in America.

Tension in the region is increasing as the Passover holiday approaches.

Hamas, the fundamentalist Islamic group, has vowed to send seven suicide-bomber "martyrs" into Israel, and Israeli security forces have strengthened their presence throughout the country.

"I really hope that Sharon will beat the hell out of Arafat and his gang," said Hayim, a Tel Aviv restaurant owner. "We are fed up with him. Enough is enough."

At least 332 Palestinians have been killed and 12,000 injured since the beginning of the intifada six months ago. The fighting has also claimed the lives of 70 Israelis and injured 550.

Opinion polls this weekend indicated that 63% of Israelis believe it will be impossible to reach peace with the Palestinians during their lifetime.

Thousands of mourners demanding revenge marched in the West Bank town of Nablus yesterday for the funerals of five Palestinians who had been shot. In Ramallah, mourners carried the flag-covered body of a 21-year-old man killed by Israeli troops.

There were also fears of tension in Hebron where Shalhevet Tass, the 10-month-old Israeli girl shot by a Palestinian sniper, was due to buried today.

Yesterday the violence continued. Ten Palestinians - including two girls aged two and seven - were wounded by Israeli troops on the Gaza Strip. There were also unconfirmed Palestinian reports that their security forces were staging manoeuvres to prepare for a possible Israeli assault.

JERUSALEM (Associated Press, AP - 4/01) - Israel arrested six members of Yasser Arafat's elite Force 17 guard Sunday, Palestinians said, as mourners from both sides buried children killed in the conflict.

Tension was high in the West Bank and Gaza after two days of intense clashes, and Israeli police and security remained on high alert for attacks inside Israel by Palestinian militants after a string of bombings.

North of the West Bank city of Ramallah, Israeli special forces arrested the six Palestinians, including a regional commander of Force 17, at the entrance to the village of Jilijiyeh, said Palestinian official Ribhi Arafat.

An Israeli official, insisting on anonymity, confirmed the arrests, but said that only five were Force 17 members. On Wednesday, Israeli helicopters attacked Force 17 headquarters and buildings in Ramallah and the Gaza Strip, after Israel charged that commanders of the elite force were directly involved in attacks against Israelis.

Israeli officials pledged to continue their operations against Force 17, considered the best-trained force in Yasser Arafat's Palestinian police and responsible for his personal safety.

The Palestinians said Israeli forces raided a Force 17 roadblock and arrested everyone there. Israel is holding at least 35 members of Palestinian security forces, accusing them of gunfire attacks against Israelis, said Palestinian official Ribhi Arafat.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat denounced the arrests, calling them ``part of the Israeli escalation plan.''

Palestinian leaders stepped up security measures in anticipation of Israeli attempts on their lives, Palestinian security officials said. The leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouti, and Force 17 commander Mahmoud Damara added bodyguards and neither is sleeping at home, they said.

Palestinians say Israel has targeted and killed at least a dozen Palestinian activists since the uprising erupted Sept. 28. Israel has acknowledged some of the killings and refused comment on others.

Cabinet Minister Ephraim Sneh said Sunday that the policy of targeting activists has not changed. ``As soon as there is a target, and hitting it will prevent new terrorist attacks, it has to be hit,'' he told Israel radio.

Gideon Ezra, the deputy internal security minister, said the main targets would be ``middle-rank officials'' who supply materials for attacks.

On Saturday, Palestinians buried seven people killed in confrontations with Israeli troops. Near Ramallah, 11-year-old Mohammed Tamini died Sunday of wounds suffered in a clash with Israeli forces March 15, hospital doctors said; he was buried Sunday.

In the divided West Bank city of Hebron, Jewish settlers and their supporters marched Sunday to an ancient cemetery for the burial of Shalhevet Pass, a 10-month-old killed in a gunfire incident last week. The Israeli military said a sniper on a Palestinian-controlled Abu Sneineh hill across from a Jewish enclave killed the baby and wounded her father with a single shot.

Her parents had refused to bury her until Israeli forces recaptured the hill from the Palestinians. A local rabbi approved the unusual delay, while others, including chief rabbi Israel Meir Lau, insisted that Jewish law, requiring immediate burial, must be applied. On Friday, the family allowed the funeral to proceed.

About 3,000 Jews gathered at the Tomb of Patriarchs, the disputed Hebron holy site claimed by both sides. The funeral procession wound through the streets, past the site of the shooting and up a hill lined by Palestinian houses to the ancient Jewish cemetery.

Israeli soldiers imposed a curfew to keep Palestinians in their homes. Some Israeli youths threw rocks at Palestinian houses, breaking windows.

Eulogizing the baby, local rabbi Dov Lior urged the Israeli government to ``avenge her blood ... which has been shed by dark villains.''

After the funeral, there was a brief exchange of gunfire. No casualties were reported.

Hebron is divided into Israeli and Palestinian-controlled zones, with the Israelis patrolling the section where the Jewish settlers live, some in houses owned by Jews before a 1929 massacre and expulsion.

Also Sunday, Israeli military bulldozers uprooted about 100 olive trees to build a road for Jewish settlers, Palestinians said. An Israeli military spokesman said 13 trees were uprooted. Villagers from Feroush Bet Dajan near Jericho said the Israeli military destroyed five houses there, claiming they were built illegally.

Since the uprising began, 455 people have been killed, including 374 Palestinians, 62 Israeli Jews and 19 others.

Mid-East Realities

www.middleeast.org

Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/4/127.htm