Arafat vows to stay

The United States, Europe and Egypt yesterday warned Israel against carrying out a threat to expel Palestinian President Yasser Arafat as thousands of his supporters vowed to defend him.

Washington said any expulsion would merely give Arafat a broader platform to operate from, and the European Union said exiling him was likely to escalate the Israel-Palestinian conflict rather than ease tensions.

Word from sources close to the Israeli Government that it had decided to exile Arafat after a wave of suicide bombings, but would not to do so immediately, prompted defiant demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Arafat told thousands of Palestinians rallying to his side that he would stay put in his headquarters come what may.

"You are brave people, my loved ones. Abu Ammar is staying here," he said, using his nom de guerre while blowing kisses to the throngs outside his half-demolished compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"You are the ones who are capable of responding to this Israeli threat," the former guerrilla leader, dressed in his usual military uniform, told the slogan-chanting crowd.

Israel's neighbour, Egypt, said his expulsion could unleash violence all over the Palestinian territories.

A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana expressed "great concern" at the news.

"This is precisely the moment when people should make every possible effort to avoid steps that lead to even more tension," Cristina Gallach said.

The United States, the driving force behind a collapsing Middle East peace plan, cited different reasons, saying Arafat would gain a greater stage to operate from outside the region.

"We think it would not be helpful to expel him because it would just give him another stage to play on," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

Asked whether Egypt would take Arafat as an exile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said: "We, like any Arab country, would welcome him. The question is another. If we talk of expelling him we are making a huge error.

"Nobody can tell what would happen in the Palestinian territories if Arafat is expelled. Terrorism, violence will erupt everywhere."

Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qureia said he was shelving his bid to form a Government because of Israel's decision in principle to expel Arafat.

"This is an adventurous and grave decision that ... finishes off any attempt by me to form a new Cabinet," the moderate Qureia said.

"The Israeli decision [if implemented] would finish off any chance to make peace and create security in the region. Therefore we appeal to the rational people of the world to appreciate this grave threat and to compel the Israeli Government to retreat from this mad decision.

"I also call on the Quartet [of international mediators], the international community and Arab and Muslim nations to shoulder their responsibilities regarding this serious development in order to stop Israeli arrogance, which has exceeded all red lines."

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's right-wing Cabinet agreed in principle to exile Arafat from the region as an obstacle to peace, but opted against any immediate action.

Israel has confined Arafat to his compound for most of the past 21 months and refused to deal with him.

The United States has followed Israel's lead and shunned Arafat from peacemaking but opposes expelling him.

The Israeli Cabinet has raised the stakes by ordering the Army to draw up detailed plans to "remove" Arafat.

The 11-member emergency Cabinet, convened after this week's double suicide bombing killed 15 people, decided by nine votes to two to brush aside warnings by Washington against an expulsion which would provoke a furious reaction by Palestinians.

The wording of the Cabinet statement left the method of his removal open.

It said Arafat was "an absolute obstacle to the process of reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel will remove this obstacle in a manner, at a time and in ways to be decided separately".

The move came hours after Israeli troops commandeered the top floor of a Palestinian Authority building close to Arafat's police headquarters in what Army sources described as a "message and a signal".

The move appeared to ensure that the threat of expulsion will hang over the PLO chairman as the Israelis step up their pressure to force the authority to arrest and disarm members of militant factions responsible for more than 100 suicide bombings.

The Cabinet stopped short of setting a date for the implementation of the threat, although there were signs that some ministers might have wished to have gone further.

- REUTERS, INDEPENDENT