Minister's killing: Sharon pins the blame on Arafat

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), OCT. 17. Israel's Tourism Minister, Mr. Rehavam Ze'evi, was assassinated in Jerusalem today. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said it was in retribution for the killing of their leader Abu Ali Mustafa in August.

Israel's Prime Minister, Mr. Ariel Sharon, has held the Palestinian Authority President, Mr. Yasser Arafat, personally responsible for today's attack and said the situation from now on would not be like it was till yesterday.

Gunmen are reported to have waylaid Mr. Ze'evi in the corridor of the Hyatt Hotel in Jerusalem where he was staying. They shot him at close quarters and though doctors tried several procedures, Mr. Ze'evi succumbed to his injuries two hours later. Mr. Ze'evi, who leads the fanatic right wing Moledet party, had announced on Monday that he and the deputy head of his party would resign from the Cabinet. Their resignations were to have come into effect on Wednesday afternoon.

Mr. Ze'evi, who was nick-named Gandhi, appears to have only one thing in common with the Mahatma - the fact that they were both assassinated. This right-winger among the right-wingers had stood for the ``transfer'' of all Palestinians from the occupied territories - in other words, for ethnic cleansing.

He had decided to resign from the Cabinet because he thought that hawkish Mr. Sharon was being too ``soft'' on the Palestinians.

There are at least two different versions of how Mr. Ze'evi came to acquire a nick-name that all Indians would consider an abhorrent mismatch. One version is that he had dressed up in a toga for a play while in school that his classmates started calling him Gandhi.

The other version is that Mr. Ze'evi's violent proposals vis a vis the Palestinians was so opposite to all that the Mahatma stood for that the appellation Gandhi was seen as a macabre joke. Predictably enough, Mr. Sharon has sought to use the assassination to strike for the high ground in his dealings with the Palestinians. The West has revived its interest in the Israel-Palestinian negotiations in the course of its effort to maintain the coalition against Al-Qaeda. British Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair, has just recently announced his support for the formation of a Palestinian state while standing next to Mr. Arafat.

That Western pressure has been brought to bear on both sides is also evident from the de-escalation of violence in recent weeks and announcements by Israel that it was going to ease the closure on some parts of the Palestinian territory. Just yesterday, Mr. Sharon had said that he would not be opposed to the formation of a Palestinian state if certain conditions were met. Now, Mr. Ze'evi's assassination has given Mr. Sharon the opportunity to revert to the hard stance towards which he is more naturally inclined.

Reuters reports:

The Palestinian Authority today condemned Mr. Ze'evi's assassination but urged Israel to stop its policy of killing Palestinians.

Mr. Yasser Abed, Cabinet Minister of the Palestinian Authority, said, ``We feel sorry about this assassination. We reject all forms of political assassinations''.

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Section  : International
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