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Response To Attack Will
Be Harsh - Israel Govt

By David Ratner, Haaretz Correspondent,
Haaretz Service and Agencies
10-4-3


Government sources said Saturday that Israel would respond harshly to the suicide bomb attack in Haifa, and that the response might come as early as Saturday evening.
 
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened a meeting of senior political and defense officials shortly after the attack, in which 18 people were killed, to discuss Israel's response.
 
Government sources said Israel would discuss the decision by the security cabinet last month to "remove" Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
 
Speaking shortly after the suicide bomb attack Saturday in Haifa, Health Minister Dani Naveh said Israel should "seize this opportunity to get rid of Arafat."
 
The attack, Naveh added, was further evidence to those arguing over whether the Palestinian Authority chairman's presence in the region or his expulsion would cause greater damage, that Arafat's "presence is far more damaging."
 
Former Labor Party leader Amram Mitzna disagreed, saying that removing Arafat would be like "looking for the solution in the wrong place." His removal, Mitzna said, would only increase the hatred and violence.
 
David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, said Israel demands that the Palestinian Authority take immediate steps against militant groups. "The bombing in Haifa is another indication that the Palestinian Authority continues to refuse to take even minimal steps against the terrorist infrastructure," he said.
 
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qureia called Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav to express his sorrow over the bombing and to condemn it.
 
The deadliness of the attack raised the question of whether the government would act on the decision by the security cabinet to "remove" Arafat. That decision was taken after 15 Israelis were killed in two suicide bombings on September 10 - in Tzrifin and in Jerusalem - in the space of a few hours.
 
At the time, the security cabinet did not say when or how Arafat would be "removed."
 
The United States, fearing the removal of Arafat could led to escalating violence in the region as it is engaged in a desperate effort to stabilize the situation in Iraq, has until now opposed any Israeli action against the Palestinian leader.
 
PM-designate Qureia condemns bombing Qureia issued a statement condemning the bombing and also called on militant Palestinian groups to cease attacks on Israeli civilians.
 
"Mr. Qureia urged the Palestinian people and all its national and Islamic factions to practise self restraint and to fully halt these actions that target civilians and harm our legitimate and just national struggle," his office said in a statement.
 
It was Qureia's clearest call for an end to violence since he was nominated by Arafat last month after the resignation of Mahmoud Abbas.
 
In his statement, Qureia also called on Israel to end the oppression of the Palestinian people and to cease its efforts to strike at the leaders of the various Palestinian groups.
 
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat condemned the attack and appealed to the Quartet of international mediators - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - "to exert every possible effort in order to ensure de-escalation, and to maintain the road map" peace plan.
 
Israel and the international community have called repeatedly for the Palestinian Authority to crack down on groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but the Palestinian leadership has so far refused, saying such a move would precipitate civil war.
 
Blair expresses outrage at bombing British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed outrage Saturday at the suicide bombing. "I am outraged by the latest terrorist horror in Israel," he said in a statement released by his Downing St. office.
 
"My deepest condolences go to family and friends of the victims caught in this attack. Such incidents are always sickening, but even more so when they involve children," he said.
 
"The U.K. unequivocally condemns terrorist action against Israelis, as we do everywhere. These attacks do not serve the interests of the Palestinian people," said Blair, who was in Rome on Saturday for a summit on a European Union constitution.
 
© Copyright 2003 Haaretz. All rights reserved
 
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/346835.html

 

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