Israel’s Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon cut short his U.S. visit and headed home Wednesday, after receiving word at the end of a Tuesday meeting with President George Bush that a Hamas suicide bomber had killed about 15 people and wounded 57 in a Rishon Letzion pool hall.
Enraged by the attack and holding Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat responsible, Sharon told reporters that "all those who believe that they can make gains through the use of terror will cease to exist." He declined to answer when asked by reporters if he planned to expel Arafat, Haaretz reported.
Education Minister Limor Livnat, who accompanied Sharon to Washington, said that the government might have no alternative but to order Arafat's expulsion. "It could be that in the end there will be no choice and we will have to expel Arafat," she told Army Radio. She added she had no indication that Sharon had already made such a decision.
"I say today Israel will not surrender to blackmail ... he who rises up to kill us, we will pre-empt it and kill him first," Sharon told a news conference before curtailing his visit to Washington and flying home. "The battle is not done," he declared.
Sharon, however, said the bombing was "proof of the true intentions of the person leading the Palestinian Authority." In a clear reference to Arafat, he said that those of spoke of "millions of martyrs" were guilty of the attack. Army Radio said Sharon was weighing a "very harsh" response to the bombing, which could include asking the cabinet for Arafat's expulsion.
For its part, the Palestinian Authority strongly condemned the bombing in a statement. "The Palestinian leadership will take firm and strict measures against those who are involved in this operation and will not be light-handed in punishing those who have caused great harm to our cause," it said.
President Bush offered Sharon condolences and registered "his disgust with this wanton waste of life," a Bush adviser said.
A U.N. spokesman said Secretary-General Kofi Annan was appalled by the suicide bomb attack in Rishon Letzion. "Such attacks are morally repugnant and only set back the prospects for a peaceful settlement," spokesman Fred Eckhard said. (Albawaba.com)
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