Israelis debate whether to expel Yasser Arafat

JERUSALEM -- The unrelenting wave of terror attacks is causing a growing clamor in Israel for the expulsion of Yasser Arafat, but key security advisers caution against such a gambit and officials say it's not on the agenda for now.

The idea was the talk of the street Thursday, a day after a Palestinian suicide bombing killed 17 Israelis on a bus.

Arafat condemned and disavowed the attack, but his words fell on deaf ears among Israelis after 20 months of violence in which many suicide bombings and other attacks came from groups associated with the Palestinian leader.

"Don't fear expelling Arafat," wrote the mass-circulation Maariv daily in an unprecedented editorial, and a front-page commentary by respected analyst Zeev Schiff in the liberal Haaretz daily predicted the idea would receive renewed government consideration.

Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau said expulsion -- which he termed "the least bad alternative" -- was gaining popularity among Cabinet ministers, including moderate ones whose opposition scuttled the idea after a series of suicide bombings in March.

Results brief

Instead Israel launched a six-week offensive in the West Bank, confining Arafat to his compound and killing or detaining hundreds of wanted men. To Israelis' chagrin, however, the result was only a brief lull in attacks.

"The attacks are continuing and we need to decide," Finance Minister Silvan Shalom, another expulsion advocate, said Thursday. "I think we're close to it ... Once Arafat is gone, others will take his place who'll agree to a cease-fire."

But while the Israeli military chief, Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, also supports expulsion, key security agencies -- including the Mossad, the Shin Bet security service and military intelligence -- are skeptical.

The security services do not recommend expulsion as the "most effective solution," said Raanan Gissin, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman, adding: "We will operate in accordance with the recommendation of the security services."

Gissin said turning out Arafat would not stop the attacks because the problem encompasses the entire Palestinian Authority.

"The problem is not personal, but a government structure that is corrupt and supports terror," he said.

Delicate political issue

The issue is delicate for Sharon, who has a long-standing and reciprocated animosity toward the Palestinian leader. Sharon has taken pains to blame him directly for attacks -- even in cases like Thursday's in which the assailants were Islamic fundamentalists, Arafat's erstwhile bitter rivals.

Sharon also faces powerful anti-Arafat sentiment in his home base, the hawkish Likud Party, whose support he needs to run for prime minister again next year.

Arafat, meanwhile, is facing increasing criticism from abroad. President Bush's press secretary, Ari Fleischer, said Wednesday that "in the president's eyes, Yasser Arafat has never played a role of someone who can be trusted or who was effective."

There is frustration among Arab leaders who fear the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian violence could destabilize their regimes.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has given Arafat only grudging support and suggested he might be moved to a ceremonial role within a year.