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Sharon Freezes All Contacts with Palestinians After Minister Assassination
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has decided to freeze all contacts with the Palestinians, including security talks, after Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi was assassinated earlier Wednesday.
Sharon made this decision after consultations with his security cabinet, which has also decided to "step up" military responses to the Palestinians, though stopped short of calling for revenge assassinations of Palestinian senior leaders.
Unconfirmed reports said that a large-scale military attack against the Palestinians could start at any moment from now.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, a leading dove in the national unity government, opposed the freezing of diplomatic ties, but agreed to step up military actions.
Peres was originally scheduled to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the next few days to solidify the ceasefire agreement they reached on September 26. However, the plan now was obviously postponed indefinitely.
Addressing a special Knesset (parliament) memorial session for Ze'evi, Sharon said: "The responsibility is Arafat's alone."
"We will carry out a war to the bitter end against the terrorists, those who help them and those who dispatch them," he warned.
Ze'evi, leader of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu-National Union bloc, was gunned down by unknown gunmen in Jerusalem's Hyatt Hotel Wednesday morning and died of his wounds three hours later in hospital. He was famous for his master plan to "transfer" all Palestinians from the region.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), whose leader Abu Ali Mustafa was assassinated by Israel on August 27, reportedly has claimed responsibility for the shooting of Ze'evi.
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) led by Arafat has already condemned the assassination.
Even though the PFLP is not under the command of Arafat, Sharon asserted Wednesday that Arafat provides a haven for "murderers", showing that he seeks only "the destruction of the state of Israel" and "opposes peace in the deepest sense".
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer echoed Sharon's remarks by saying that Arafat bore sole responsibility for the assassination of Ze'evi.
"Only Yasser Arafat is responsible...He is the chairman of the Palestinian (National) Authority and only he is responsible," Ben Eliezer said, adding that Arafat failed to arrest and rein in militants in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israeli President Moshe Katsav issued a statement and mourned the death of Ze'evi.
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