MIDDLE EAST Defying U.S., Israel vows to oust Arafat

The language opens up the option of capturing or killing the Palestinian leader.
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Over strong U.S. objections, Israel insisted today it will remove Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as an obstacle to peace, and one Cabinet minister said Israel "doesn't take orders" from Washington.
Israeli leaders, however, left their statements intentionally vague and put off immediate action to avoid a direct clash with the United States, leave their options open and keep the Palestinian chief wary and guessing.
The 74-year-old Palestinian leader was defiant, declaring that no one will "kick me out," after thousands of Palestinians poured into streets throughout the West Bank and Gaza to support him. The Israeli threats seemed only to bolster Arafat, who has been trapped in his office for a year and a half by Israel.
Reacting to two Palestinian suicide bombings that killed 15 Israelis this week in a Jerusalem cafe and outside an army base near Tel Aviv, Israel's security Cabinet on Thursday declared Arafat "a complete obstacle" to peace, blaming him for the violence. It added that "Israel will work to remove this obstacle in the manner, at the time, and in the ways that will be decided on separately."
That wording makes room for several options: deporting Arafat, capturing him or killing him. The Haaretz daily, however, reported that when Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz talked of killing Arafat during the Cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asked him not to use that language.
U.S. Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer met with Mofaz today and was expected to relay stiff U.S. opposition. Speaking to reporters before the meeting -- and with Kurtzer at his side -- Mofaz insisted Israel would act against Arafat, who he said has sabotaged peace efforts.
"The security Cabinet decided last night that Israel will act to remove the obstacle Arafat at the time and in the manner that will be decided on separately," Mofaz said. "I am convinced the state of Israel has in the past made a historic mistake by not taking this decision earlier."
Kurtzer said that the United States had not changed its position and the issue would continue to be discussed "quietly" with Israel.
On Thursday, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher reiterated the long-standing U.S. view, saying, "We think that it would not be helpful to expel [Arafat] because it would just give him another stage to play on." Along with Israel, the United States has boycotted Arafat and called him a failed leader who has a hand in terrorism.
Clash at shrine
Israeli police stormed a disputed Jerusalem shrine today, firing tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of Muslim worshippers who threw stones after noon prayers, police and witnesses said.
About 35,000 Muslims were up on the hilltop for prayers. After the service, hundreds of young men threw stones at the Western Wall below, where Jews were praying, police spokesman Gil Kleiman said. There were no injuries reported, Kleiman said.
Israel thinks Arafat is at least indirectly to blame for militant attacks over the last three years of fighting and charges that he's done nothing with the security forces under his control to stop bomb attacks on Israelis.
Education Minister Limor Livnat said that despite the U.S. objections, Arafat -- whom she compared to Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden -- was no longer immune.
"Israel is an independent and sovereign state, and though it has a close and friendly important relationship with America, it doesn't take orders from America," Livnat said today.
Opinion poll
A poll published in a newspaper today showed 60 percent of Israelis would like to see Arafat killed or exiled.
The telephone survey conducted Thursday evening by the Dahaf Institute asked a representative sample of 503 Israeli adults what should be done with Arafat. Thirty-seven percent favored assassination, 23 percent said Israel should expel him and 21 percent said he should continue to be isolated at his West Bank headquarters. Published in the Yediot Ahronot daily, the survey had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.
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