SHARON TOLD ECEVIT HE WANT (GET) RID OF ARAFAT
ANKARA 7 Dec. (IPS) Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said Israel's
hawkish Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has told him he wanted to "be rid
of" Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
Speaking at a news conference, Ecevit, appearing more dynamic than ever, said
he had a telephone conversation with Sharon who had "openly expressed his
desire to be rid of" Palestinian leader Arafat, the Turkish Daily News said
Friday.
"During my telephone conversation the other day with Sharon, it became very clear that Israel was inclined towards war", Ecevit said, "In fact Mr. Sharon openly expressed his desire to be rid of Mr. Arafat."
The Turkish Prime Minister did not elaborate on what he thought
Sharon meant by being "rid of," and said he would not comment on such
"extremely dangerous and worrisome" remarks.
Ecevit's revelation that Israel wanted to get rid of Arafat was the first official statement of the intention of the right-wing Sharon about Mr. Arafat.
In Jerusalem, a spokesman for Mr. Sharon immediately rejected Mr. Ecevit’s allegations, noting that during his meeting with George W. Bush, he had promised the American President not to touch on Mr. Arafat.
On Wednesday, in response to Palestinian suicide bombings of Saturday night in Jerusalem and Sunday morning in Haifa and last weekend that killed 25 civilians, Israel planes and helicopters fired guided missiles at a building sharing one wall with another were Mr. Arafat was holding a meeting.
Though the Palestinian leader said Sharon wanted to assassinate him, but Israel denied, unconvincingly though.
According to the TDN, Mr. Ecevit warned Israel against eliminating Arafat, saying: "Arafat is in the position of being an irreplaceable leader. If one way or the other the Arafat factor were to be removed, I fear the problem would be further exacerbated".
Ecevit said Muslim Turkey, Israel's closest ally in the Middle East but also a traditional supporter of Palestinian statehood, had offered to host peace talks between Arafat and Sharon.
He said Arafat had already welcomed such a proposal and Sharon had said he awaited a complete cease-fire in the region. "We'll do whatever is necessary if Sharon and Arafat want to meet in Turkey," Ecevit said.
The prime minister said Sharon said he would agree to attend talks with the Palestinian leadership if a complete cease-fire in the region could be achieved within 24 hours.
"That's of course not a rational demand," Ecevit said adding that there were Palestinian groups who were against the Palestinian leadership as well.
Urging Sharon to exercise restraint in military actions against the Palestinian territory, Mr. Ecevit noted: "This will not bring a solution to the problem".
"Sharon should immediately accept a dialogue with Arafat", Ecevit urged.
"The measures that Israel has taken so far have been shown to be ineffective and have dragged Israel and the Palestinians toward a conflict"he added.
Ecevit also called on Arafat to do more to crack down on Islamic militants who have carried out a wave of attacks against Israelis.
"The Palestinian administration needs to take more effective steps than they have done previously", Ecevit said.
The Palestinian Authority has accused Sharon of trying to topple Arafat, but Israel has denied such an intention.
Turkey has close military and political links to Israel, but also cultivates ties with the Arab world. ENDS ECEVIT SHARON ARAFAT 71201