Sharon defends killing of bombmaker
JERUSALEM (AP) – Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, defending Israel’s killing of a top Hamas bombmaker, said Monday that “there is no compromise with terror.” Hamas extremists vowed revenge. The threats came as a top Palestinian official said the United States will find no Palestinian willing to negotiate in place of Yasser Arafat, whom Israel holds ultimately responsible for all the attacks against its people because he has not taken serious steps to stop them.
President Bush’s Mideast peace plan calls for replacing the Palestinian leader as a necessary first step to obtaining Washington’s support for a provisional Palestinian state. On Sunday, Secretary of State Colin Powell ruled out any immediate talks with Arafat.
While many Palestinians are loyal to him, Arafat faces growing frustration among his people after 21 months of conflict with Israel and mounting economic hardships.
In Gaza City, about 4,000 Palestinians marched on Arafat’s headquarters, complaining that he has been unable to ease their economic woes. Arafat has not been in Gaza since late last year, and Israeli tanks are again trapping him in his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah.
Some protesters attached pita bread to their signs as a symbol of their struggle for daily bread. Up to now, Palestinians have blamed Israel for their difficulties, noting Israeli travel restrictions that have crippled the Palestinian economy.
In Jerusalem, meanwhile, Sharon gave strong backing to Bush’s Mideast initiative, saying far-reaching reforms are needed to jump-start the peace process and that Israel is coordinating closely with the United States on how to proceed.
“We have interest in starting a process in order to advance to a diplomatic stage,” Sharon told a meeting of Likud party members, adding: “I think that we need to be the ones who will take the initiative.”
In Gaza, Israeli forces blew up a tunnel used for smuggling weapons for the Palestinians under the border with Egypt to the town of Rafah, the military said late Monday.
On the ground, Israeli troops remained entrenched in all but one of the main Palestinian towns in the West Bank, retaliation for Palestinian suicide bombings.
On Sunday, Israeli special forces killed Mohaned Tahir, 26, a West Bank bombmaker for Hamas whose explosives are believed to have killed some 120 people.
Israel holds Tahir responsible for a June 18 bus attack in Jerusalem that killed 19 Israelis, a June 2001 suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv disco that killed 21 others and several other suicide attacks.
In the current round of fighting, Israel has killed dozens of Palestinians it accused of terrorism in what the Palestinians call a policy of assassination.
Sharon called Tahir’s killing “a very important operation” of self-defense. “There is no compromise with terror and one should struggle against terror, and that is what we are doing,” he said.
Last week, Sharon pledged to wage a “massive campaign” against Hamas.
Israeli authorities handed Tahir’s body over to the Palestinians early Monday, and a funeral was expected when there is a break in the curfew confining city’s 140,000 residents to their homes.
In Gaza, where Hamas is based, a Hamas official threatened revenge. “Our people cannot forget the blood of their heroes,” spokesman Ismail Abu Shanab said.
Imad Darwazeh, 37, was also killed in the Israeli strike Sunday. His brother, Salah Darwazeh, a member of Izzadine al-Qassam, the group’s military wing, was killed in an Israeli missile strike in July 2001.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for many of the 71 suicide bombings that have killed more than 251 Israelis in the past 21 months. But Israel holds Arafat ultimately responsible for attacks carried out by rival groups such as Hamas.
Powell said Sunday that the Palestinian leadership was flawed and ruled out any immediate meetings with Arafat.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat told The Associated Press on Monday that Powell’s stand could complicate the peace process since Arafat is the main Palestinian negotiator. The U.S. position “makes things more complicated and it will not lead to any solution. It’s an unwise attitude,” Erekat said.
Israeli troops also entered the town of Salfit south of Nablus overnight and arrested Anan Hashash, 28, a senior activist in the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militia, Palestinian security officials said.
Construction crews, meanwhile, continued work Monday on an electronic fence that will protect three sides of Jerusalem in an attempt to keep suicide bombers out.
The fence, which will stretch 30 miles, is similar to one to the northwest that will separate part of the West Bank from Israel. Construction on that fence began last week.
Palestinians, who want east Jerusalem for a capital of a future state, oppose fencing off the city from the West Bank.
Also Monday, a Palestinian official dismissed reports that Israel dismantled illegal settlements in the West Bank.
The Israeli government said Sunday that settlers, following orders from the army, took down 11 outposts built without permission in the West Bank. However, news report said most of the settlements were either uninhabited or were easily removable, and had no effect on the main Jewish settlements.