Sharon faces criticism for assault on Arafat

JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who ordered Israeli tanks to roll into Ramallah and lay siege to the compound of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, now finds himself under a kind of siege from Israeli opinion-makers second-guessing the 10-day operation and its chastened end.

Under U.S. pressure, Israeli pulled its troops back from the compound Sunday in one of the most high-profile retreats for the Sharon government in the past two years.

Analysts and politicians from across the political spectrum Monday described the assault as one of the worst decisions of Sharon's premiership and a lesson to Israel to pay close attention to the priorities of its biggest ally, the United States.

Sharon could not distance himself from the backlash by taking a quick diplomatic trip to Russia.

"Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did well to hop on a plane to Russia just as Yasser Arafat showed for the V sign for victory" at the compound, wrote Hemi Shalev in the daily newspaper Ma'ariv. "Sharon is leaving behind a colossal failure, the most notable failure since the beginning of his term of office."

Disappointed public

The attack on Arafat's compound, which included razing all but one of its buildings, seemed to disappoint the Israeli public for several reasons. Sharon ordered the operation in Ramallah to avenge two deadly suicide bombings. Hours after the first tanks entered, trapping Arafat and more than 200 aides and security men, the Israelis were calling for the surrender of dozens of men suspected of links to terrorist acts.

But within a day, it was clear that the Palestinians were ready to call Sharon's bluff. And as the week went on, it was equally clear that neither the United States nor the United Nations -- both consumed by international debate over possible war with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein -- had patience for Israel's game of chicken with the Palestinians.

By the time Israel heeded the call for an end to the siege, the chance for international help in dealing with the terror suspects -- by exile or jail -- had evaporated. When the doors of the compound opened, not a single man was seized by the Israeli military.

Hoping for momentum

"People were hoping for, if not for a knockout punch, some sort of momentum from this, a sense of a military victory," said analyst Yossi Klein Halevy. "More and more there was a sense, heard among the Palestinians, that this intifada had been a mistake.

"It was hoped, wrongly it turned out, that this would be an important part of the psychological war to end it."

Indeed, the siege of Arafat, who had been suffering from diminishing public approval ratings and increasing political challenges, boosted his popularity. A poll released Sunday found that 60 percent of Palestinians polled said they expect Arafat to be re-elected as president of the Palestinian Authority if elections are held, as Arafat plans, in January.

That compares to 47 percent among those asked the same question in June. It is just that kind of political bounce that the Americans feared -- and were arguing to the Israelis throughout the week could happen.

The Americans, nearly every day since the first bulldozers rolled in, also told the Israelis that the siege could seriously undermine the political and economic reform process that the Bush administration is urging the Palestinians to pursue. Sharon, who had called Arafat irrelevant in the spring, was only building up the Palestinian leader by keeping him under attack, they argued.