Nazir Majally, Asharq Al-Awsat

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 14 September 2003 — Israel yesterday brushed aside global appeals against exiling Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

“No country would allow others to dictate how its should protect its citizens,” said Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. “Arafat is a terrorist leader. We have no war with the Palestinian people and their aspirations.”

Israel has not specified how or when its decision would be implemented. Sources have said that Israeli special forces are set to pluck Arafat from his headquarters — where blockades have kept him confined for 21 months — and then send him abroad.

Arafat condemned the Israeli threat as a bid to eradicate Palestinian independence, and appealed for international intervention.

“The danger here concerns Israel’s determination to cancel the Palestinian partner and the Palestinian Authority,” Arafat told diplomats and dovish Israelis who visited him to mark the 10th anniversary of interim accords that gave Palestinians limited self-rule.

Arafat said he was still committed to the road map.

Thousands of Palestinians rallied in support of Arafat in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Protesters formed a human chain around his battered headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, vowing to sacrifice their lives on his behalf. There were protest rallies by Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan too.

The Palestinians went to the UN Security Council to demand the world body act to protect their leader. The Council began consultations on a resolution drafted by the Palestinians late Friday and then adjourned until tomorrow, despite Palestinian pressure for a quick vote. An open debate was scheduled for tomorrow on the issue after members agreed more discussions were needed before a vote.

In the interim, the council issued a press statement expressing “the view that the removal of Chairman Arafat would be unhelpful and should not be implemented.” The statement, read by the council president, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, reflected the consensus among the 15 Council members.

Envoys of the Quartet involved in the peace process agreed in Geneva meanwhile that a new Palestinian government with an empowered prime minister must be installed to break the cycle of violence.