Head PA official: ‘Sharon wants to kill Arafat’

The heightened talk last week by Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, about the “imminent removal” of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is really intended to prepare the public for the killing of the PLO leader, Arafat deputy and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in an exclusive interview this morning with WorldNetDaily.

“I believe all this talk is really about a plan to kill Arafat,” said Erekat. “The Israeli government destroyed the PLO, they have been putting Arafat under siege, and now they want to kill him.”

Erekat told WorldNetDaily there is no mechanism of succession in place for the PLO if Arafat is removed from power, and said an Israeli assassination of Arafat would lead to chaos.

“If they kill or deport Arafat, then the replacement will not be another leader, but complete chaos, the rule of militia. We have been trying to have elections, but just yesterday the Israelis closed our borders. … I don’t know what they have in mind, but this craziness against Arafat is political blindness on the Israeli part. And both Israelis and Palestinians are going to pay,” said Erekat. “You see a lot of the Palestinian territories are ruled by militias, and this will be the case all over if they kill Arafat.”

Erekat called on the United States to step in and end the Israeli siege against Arafat.

“It’s up to the United States, if they want region to slide or not. I think the road is certainly open to chaos. If they want to stop the sliding, I believe something should be done to stop Israel.”

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot excerpted yesterday, Sharon said, “Arafat will be expelled from the territories.”

Sharon gave interviews to all Israeli newspapers and two radio stations ahead of the Jewish New Year, which begins tomorrow, when the full interviews will be published.

Sharon’s comments came just days after Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom made similar statements.

Sharon noted that Israel had killed Hamas founder and spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin. Three weeks later, he added, Israel killed in a similar manner Yassin’s successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

“Regarding Arafat’s expulsion, we will act in a similar manner: We will do it at a convenient time,” Sharon was quoted as saying.

The comments follow a WorldNetDaily exclusive report that after 31 years, the FBI is now gathering evidence about Arafat’s culpability in the murder of two American diplomats. Specifically, the FBI is investigating a March 1, 1973, operation in which eight members of the Black September terrorist organization, part of Arafat’s Fatah faction of the PLO, stormed the Saudi embassy in Khartoum, reportedly on Arafat’s orders, taking U.S. Ambassador Cleo Noel, diplomat Charge d’Affaires George Curtis Moore and others hostage, and one day later, killing Noel, Moore and Belgian diplomat Guy Eid.

If Arafat is charged with the murders, a warrant would be issued for his arrest, making him a fugitive in the U.S.