Sharon targets Arafat leaders in top-down peace strategy

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon has formulated a strategy which targets the leadership of the Palestinian Authority in an effort to end the mini-war in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Evidence of the new policy was seen Tuesday when Israeli attack helicopters struck a Palestinian car in Gaza and killed a commander of PA chairman Yasser Arafat's praetorian guard, Force 17.

The policy marks a departure from that of outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak who chose to target low-level PA officials and fighters from Arafat's Fatah movement while sparing Palestinian leaders. This, to avoid the collapse of the PA and ensure that its negotiations with Israel continue.

But the assessment by Sharon and his aides is that Arafat has no incentive to stop the nearly five-month-old mini-war against Israel. Instead, Arafat is said to want to pressure both Sharon as well as the United States through the continuation of strikes against Israeli military and civilian targets in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as in Jerusalem.

The architect of Sharon's policy is expected to be Meir Dagan, a reserve major-general who was the counterterrorism advisor to then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Dagan, who is expected to be appointed as Sharon's national security adviser, has drafted measures to be taken by Israel during the first 100 days in office of the new prime minister.

The measures could include limiting Arafat's movement as well as assassinating the heads of the Fatah movement and PA security agencies suspected of being involved in attacks against Israel. At the same time, Sharon will encourage Arafat's opponents to replace the Palestinian leader.

Sources close to Sharon said this prospect has been relayed to the Bush administration. Sharon's advisers are meeting with senior Bush administration officials in Washington, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell.

For his part, Dagan said Israel should be ready to reenter PA areas to retaliate for attacks. He said Arafat himself should not be immune.

"We should employ economic, military, and political pressure against the leadership and the PA, particularly against those groups and people who are personally responsible for terrorist attacks," Dagan said. "An impossible situation has been created in which the same people who sit down and negotiate with you in the morning carry out terrorist attacks against you in the evening."

"On the other hand, we have created a system of closures and blockades against the Palestinian population, which has harmed the entire population," Dagan said on Israel television. "I find this unacceptable because a majority of the population just want to put bread on the table and to buy clothes for their children. Therefore, in my opinion, we should focus most of our activity against the PA, which is a bureaucratic and organizational entity."

On Monday, Arafat's Fatah movement warned that it would escalate attacks on the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. "We will intensify the uprising and every bullet shot toward Gilo is part of our legitimate struggle against the occupation," Fatah said in a communique issued in Bethlehem. "We will turn the lives of the residence of Gilo into a nightmare. Our goal is to bring down Sharon and all his settlements."

The movement also warned Israeli journalists that they will be killed if they enter Bethlehem.

Military sources said they expect the current escalation of Palestinian attacks to intensify next month with the approach of the Arab League summit in Amman. They said Arafat has ordered the escalation and urged the Islamic opposition to launch major attacks as well.

In turn, the sources said, the Islamic opposition has coordinated with such groups as the Lebanese Hizbullah, Palestinian groups aligned with Syria and the Al Qaida of Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden. A suspected Bin Laden agent, Nabil Okal, was captured when he arrived in Gaza last year and has been accused of planning to plant three huge bombs in Tel Aviv. The plan was to detonate one bomb and then threaten to blow up the others unless Israel fulfills Palestinian demands.

Palestinian sources said Sharon's contacts with Arafat aides and rivals are worrisome to the PA chairman. They said the Fatah Central Council met last week to discuss Sharon's election and his secret meetings and contacts with such aides as PLO Executive Committee secretary Mahmoud Abbas and PLO refugee affairs chief Assad Abdul Rahman.

The sources said Arafat loyalists are conducting a purge of suspected rivals within the movement. These include Fatah regional leaders such as Bethlehem chief Kamal Hmeid.

Palestinian sources said Fatah leaders appear to already be a target of Israel. They said Fatah Central Council member Abbas Zaki was attacked by Israeli soldiers near Hebron on Monday. They said Israeli soldiers assaulted Zaki.

On Tuesday, Israeli attack helicopters struck a Palestinian car in Gaza and killed a commander of Arafat's praetorian guard, Force 17. Witnesses said another four passengers in the car were injured. Israeli sources said Masoud Ayad was a Hizbullah agent who directed mortar attacks on the Jewish settlement of Netsarim.

The sources said Israel has drawn up a list of targets for assassination. One of those leading the list is Fatah secretary Marwan Barghouti.

"Such threats cannot frighten us," Arafat adviser Nabil Abu Rudeineh said. "Dagan must know that the Palestinian people cannot be frightened by threats and that they know how to defend their rights."