cerulean
09-15-2003, 03:11 PM
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/09/15/mideast.arafat/index.html
Israeli FM: Israel is not considering killing Arafat
U.N. envoy criticizes Israel, Palestinians
Monday, September 15, 2003 Posted: 2212 GMT ( 6:12 AM HKT)
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Monday said the Israeli government does not advocate killing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, contradicting comments by Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a day earlier.
Killing Arafat "is not the official policy of the Israeli government," Shalom said. "It was never before, and we don't speak about any killing, we didn't speak about it before, and we don't speak about it today."
Sunday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted Olmert on Israel Radio saying, "We are trying to eliminate all the heads of terror, and Arafat is one of the heads of terror.
"In my eyes, from a moral point of view, this is no different from killing others who were involved in . . . acts of terror. It's only a practical question. What is the benefit? What will the reaction be? What circumstances will allow this?"
Israel has adopted a policy of targeted killings of members of Palestinian extremist groups to defend against terrorist attacks. After Olmert's statement Sunday, Palestinian minister Saeb Erakat said the Israeli government was behaving "like gangsters."
The Israeli Security Cabinet decided in principle last week to remove Arafat, calling him an obstacle to peace, but provided no specifics about how that would be accomplished. . . .
It's frustrating that the father of modern terrorism appears safe for another day, year, decade, whatever. I suppose public disagreements like these might be par for the course in a coalition government like Israel has.
Israeli FM: Israel is not considering killing Arafat
U.N. envoy criticizes Israel, Palestinians
Monday, September 15, 2003 Posted: 2212 GMT ( 6:12 AM HKT)
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Monday said the Israeli government does not advocate killing Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, contradicting comments by Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a day earlier.
Killing Arafat "is not the official policy of the Israeli government," Shalom said. "It was never before, and we don't speak about any killing, we didn't speak about it before, and we don't speak about it today."
Sunday, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted Olmert on Israel Radio saying, "We are trying to eliminate all the heads of terror, and Arafat is one of the heads of terror.
"In my eyes, from a moral point of view, this is no different from killing others who were involved in . . . acts of terror. It's only a practical question. What is the benefit? What will the reaction be? What circumstances will allow this?"
Israel has adopted a policy of targeted killings of members of Palestinian extremist groups to defend against terrorist attacks. After Olmert's statement Sunday, Palestinian minister Saeb Erakat said the Israeli government was behaving "like gangsters."
The Israeli Security Cabinet decided in principle last week to remove Arafat, calling him an obstacle to peace, but provided no specifics about how that would be accomplished. . . .
It's frustrating that the father of modern terrorism appears safe for another day, year, decade, whatever. I suppose public disagreements like these might be par for the course in a coalition government like Israel has.