Ariel Sharon has made new threats on the life of Yasser Afatrat, drawing the usual international condemnation in the process.
New threats by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the life of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat drew international condemnation over the weekend, with the United States expressing opposition to any move to harm the Palestinian leader, and Egypt warning such an assassination would be “a crime that cannot be forgiven.”
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In an interview on Channel 2 television Friday evening, Sharon said that he had informed U.S. President George W. Bush at their meeting last week that Israel was no longer obligated to a commitment not to harm Arafat.
This ostensibly seems like an incredibly silly thing to do. For a start, if you want to kill a terrorist, you do not warn him first. Secondly, you do not threaten to kill a terrorist who enjoys as much sympathy on the international arena as does Afatrat. If you want him dead, you simply kill him and then invite the rounds of international condemnation and UN Security Council resolutions. Talking about it invites earlier condemnation and added pressure on Israel, including from our close ally, the USA. This just makes it harder to achieve our goals.
I do not believe Ariel Sharon to be a stupid man. In fact, I think he is a brilliant strategist, and is normally thinking ahead a few moves. So what is he trying to accomplish with these threats?
While there are those who posit that he is trying to bolster his standing among Likud’s voters before the party’s referendum on the Gaza disengagement plan, I do not think that Sharon would risk so much just for his standing in Likud. This may be part of it, but there is probably more.
I believe that Sharon is threatening Afatrat so as to discourage him from giving the green light to terror attacks against Israel. Israel has long known that Afatrat and his PA authorize and fund terror attacks against Israel. Sharon probably also realizes that Afatrat is a big coward, despite his talk of being a martyr. He is constantly surrounded by human shields, and was visibly shaken after the Yassin killing. Thus threatening him may be an effective way of minimizing the number of terror attacks against Israelis.
This may be reinforced by something said by ministers Ehud Olmert and Gideon Ezra this morning.
Both Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Gideon Ezra, a minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, said Sunday that Israel does not plan to target Arafat right away.
“I don’t see the possibility that Arafat will be exiled tomorrow morning or assassinated tomorrow morning,” Ezra told Israel Radio. “I see Sharon’s comments as a threat … We cannot live with the constant fear of terror attacks.”
If the only reason behind Sharon’s comments was to bolster his standing before the referendum, Olmert and Ezra would probably not have made this clarification until after the referendum. Furthermore, the last part of the quote alludes to the fact that minimizing terror against Israel is a main priority.
Whatever his reasons, I like the idea of Afatrat trapped in his headquarters like a little mouse. And I really like the idea of him trapped like a scared little mouse.
1 thought on “The Threat”
Are you sure about the “little mouse” part? The most recent photos of Arafat lead me to describe him as a fat rat in dire need of a personal shopper.
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