International
Sharon accuses Arafat of running terror network
By Kesava Menon
MANAMA (BAHRAIN), JAN. 7. Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, backed by other hawks in his Cabinet and senior military officials, are citing the affair of the weapon-laden ship as justification for a change in strategy towards the Palestinian Authority. Accusing the Authority of escalating the confrontation with Israel, these Israeli leaders have hinted that they might consider labelling the Authority as an ``enemy'' thereby laying the ground for further action aimed at obliterating it. Unfortunately for Mr. Sharon, the rest of the world does not appear to be buying his rhetorical over-kill.
In a burst of rhetorical exuberance, Mr. Sharon tried
to portray the Authority and its President, Yasser Arafat as clones of the Al-Qaeda and Osama, in an address to the press in Eilat yesterday after a display of the weapons seized from the Karine A. Mr. Sharon accused Mr. Arafat of running a network of terror in conjunction with the Iranians (who are being accused by Israel of having provided the weapons). This is, of course, a not so subtle play on the institutional memory of the U.S. which has Iran still listed as a State sponsor of terrorism. Mr. Sharon and fellow hawks would like nothing better than that the U.S. administration quickly dumps the Palestinian Authority and its President (and possibly Iran too in the bargain) into the category of ``terrorists with a global reach''.
The latest statement from the Israeli Prime Minister appears closely linked to other statements he has made in the recent past wherein he has indicated an eagerness to reach a situation where he would not have to deal with Mr. Arafat. He has labelled Mr. Arafat as ``irrelevant'' in the search for a solution and has not demurred when other hawkish colleagues have called for the expulsion of Mr. Arafat from the Palestinian territories. A surprising degree of support in this political campaign has come from the Israeli Defence Force Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz who, at the same Eilat venue, called on the Cabinet to define a new strategy towards the Palestinian Authority. Mr. Sharon has promised a speedy review of this strategy.
Israeli analysts have interpreted these statements as indicating that Mr. Sharon is trying very hard to have Mr. Arafat removed as the interlocutor from the Palestinian side. Even if Mr. Sharon is able to ram this point of view past the doves in his Cabinet it does not appear, at least in this point of time, that he will be able to get the U.S. to buy his policy. The U.S. mediator Gen. (retd.) Anthony Zinni was in the region when the Karine A was seized and is reported to have spoken about the matter with both the Israelis and Palestinians.
However Gen. Zinni left the region yesterday on an optimistic note, saying that he believed there were opportunities for progress to be made and thereby indicating that he did not believe that the Karine A episode would shipwreck the little progress that has been made.
The Western media has not really bought the version of events put out by Mr. Sharon and the Palestinians continue to dismiss the whole affair as a pathetic drama. On top of everything else, BBC today reported that according to the Lloyd's Register of Shipping Karine A was owned by the Iraqi Government and not the Palestinian Authority. Mr. Sharon and his officials had put out that the Karine A was owned by the Authority and that the money for its purchase had been personally sanctioned by Mr. Arafat.
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