Jerusalem, Sept 02: Having declared all-out war on the radical Hamas movement, Israel today threatened to expel Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat as hopes plummeted that the "roadmap" plan for peace would achieve its goals. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told military radio the government would now consider expelling Palestinian Authority chairman Arafat as he was an obstacle to the peace process.
"Arafat is a very major obstacle for (Palestinian Prime Minister) Mahmud Abbas and for the whole political process," he said. "We made a historic mistake by not expelling him two years ago but we are going to address this issue in the short-term, without doubt before end of the year."
Mofaz said the government had to "find the right moment" before making such a move without damaging the more moderate Abbas.
Arafat has been effectively confined to his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah by the Israeli army for the past 20 months.
Mofaz told cabinet colleagues yesterday the security establishment had declared "an all-out war against Hamas and other terrorist elements, including continuous strikes at the organisation's leaders", a government statement said.
Army chief of staff, General Moshe Yaalon, was cited by the radio as saying the army was ready to spring into action if given the order to launch a "large scale operation".
Mofaz confirmed today that Israel was ready to "increase the pressure" against Hamas after six air strikes in 13 days against the radical Islamic group in Gaza. Bureau Report