International

Israel ponders exiling Arafat

By Kesava Menon

Manama (Bahrain) June 18. Nineteen Israelis and a Palestinian suicide bomber were killed in an attack on a bus in Jerusalem early this morning. School children were among those who had boarded the bus but it was not clear how many minors were among those who died or the 50 persons who were injured.

The Israeli Cabinet, which held a session to consider its options, was scheduled to meet later on Tuesday to take a decision on the army's recommendations. The Israeli army is on record as having said that the only way to end the circle of violence was to deport the Palestinian Authority President, Yasser Arafat. Thus far, the U.S. administration has prevented Israel from taking this step saying that although Mr. Arafat's performance has been disappointing on every front, there is no alternative Palestinian leader with whom Israel and the rest of the world can interact.

There has been expectation in Israel that the U.S. might change its view if there was another major terrorist incident such as that of Tuesday. At a joint press briefing in Washington earlier this month, the U.S. President, George W. Bush, maintained a conspicuous silence when the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, said that he did not consider that Mr. Arafat's immunity should last forever. Just yesterday, Mr. Bush's National Security Advisor, Ms. Condoleezza Rice, was quoted as saying that Mr. Arafat ran a corrupt regime "that cavorts with terror''.

The suicide bomber struck during the early morning rush hour when the buses are crowded with office-goers and children going to school. Hamas has claimed responsibility for the attack. With Israel having cordoned off most Palestinian towns, Jerusalem with its more porous openings to Arab populated areas, has probably become more vulnerable.

Tuesday's attack has also come just as Israel has started building a defensive wall that is eventually expected to run along most of the 1967 border line between Israel and the West Bank though not exactly on it. Such a wall has been very effective vis-à-vis the Gaza Strip and in this context, attempts to strike at Israeli civilians might multiply although the West Bank wall will not be completed for months to come.

Israeli security agencies reportedly had warning of Tuesday's attack and was on high alert but the bomber still got through. The official reaction from both sides has been along predictable lines.

Israel has blamed Mr. Arafat and his "terrorist infrastructure'' while the Palestinian Authority has at once condemned the attack and pointed out that such attacks were inevitable when Israel occupied Palestinian territory and killed more than one Palestinian civilian every day.

While the current U.S. administration repeatedly says that the Palestinian Authority must do more to combat terror, U.S. officials who were intimately associated with the diplomatic shuttle between the two sides, have expressed the opinion that the Authority no longer has the capability to stop such attacks.

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