Sharon suggests exile for Palestinian

JERUSALEM With its military sweep of Palestinian cities and camps, Israel has set out to hunt down hundreds of suspected militants and terrorists, among them some of Yasser Arafat's political and security lieutenants, a senior Israeli security official said Tuesday.
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The determination to take in ranking officials from Arafat's Palestinian Authority represents a shift in Israeli policy, which until now has granted what amounts to immunity from arrest or assassination to Arafat's inner circle, the official said.
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[Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday that Israel had proposed that Arafat be flown into exile by European diplomats, raising such a possibility for the first time in public, The Associated Press reported. Palestinian officials immediately responded that Arafat would never agree to go into exile.]
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The Israeli security official's remarks, coupled with similar comments in the Israeli news media, constituted the most detailed attempt Israel has made to lay out the goals and scope of Sharon's five-day-old military thrust into Palestinian-administered territory in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
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The official, who asked not to be identified, said that some of the suspects sought by Israel had taken refuge with Arafat, the Palestinian leader, in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Others, he said, are among at least 200 Palestinians in the sprawling hilltop headquarters of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, a powerful agency that is one of Arafat's main points of contact with the CIA and is Israel's negotiating counterpart in efforts to coordinate security agreements.
.
The security service headquarters, near Ramallah, has been surrounded by Israeli forces determined to arrest all the wanted men inside. A spokesman for the Palestinian security force, Samir Rantisi, said that Israeli troops had launched an attack on the headquarters complex early Tuesday morning, using heavy machine guns and other weapons.
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"Most of the important activists of Ramallah are now in these compounds," a senior Israeli security source said. "They are not going to get away. We are going to arrest all of them."
.
Among the most pronounced changes in its policy, Israel has decided to track down and arrest Arafat's top political lieutenant in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouti, the Israeli security source said. Barghouti, 42, an electrifying speaker and charismatic street leader, is often mentioned as a possible successor to Arafat. Despite identifying him as a key figure in terrorist and other attacks, Israel until now has exempted Barghouti from arrest on the grounds that he is too popular, too influential and too close to Arafat.
.
"We're going to arrest him, of course," the source said. "Our big mistake is we used to respect the Palestinian VIPs too much."
.
He also said that Israel was studying the possibility of arresting a number of top Palestinian security officials, most of whom have been in close contact with the CIA since Arafat established the Palestinian Authority in 1994.
.
These include Tawfiq Tirawi, Arafat's intelligence chief in the West Bank, and Rashid Abu Shbak, the No. 2 man in the Preventive Security force in the Gaza Strip. According to Israel, Tirawi has been involved in planning attacks on Israeli targets since the outset of the current Palestinian uprising in September 2000, and Abu Shbak is the key figure in the manufacture of Palestinian rockets and mortars in Gaza.
.
In widening its list of wanted men to include some of Arafat's top aides, Israel faces a dilemma. Israeli officials have often said they would like to exile or remove Arafat in the hopes that the next generation of Palestinian leaders would be more "moderate" and "pragmatic." But it is precisely that group of Palestinian leaders - men in their 40s with growing power bases - whose arrests Israel is now contemplating.
.
Israeli officials acknowledge that the dilemma goes deeper, and includes the question of whether to expel Arafat. Sharon, who calls Arafat a "bitter enemy" and has publicly wished him dead, has favored expulsion, despite opposition from the United States.
.
Israel's security and intelligence agencies appear to agree with only part of this assessment. On the one hand, the agencies contend that Arafat would represent a greater threat to Israeli interests if he were overseas, with free access to the world's leaders and television cameras, than he does caged up in his Ramallah headquarters surrounded by Israeli tanks, Israeli newspapers have reported.
.
On the other hand, the agencies have warned that Arafat's likely successors include militants who made their names organizing attacks on Israel, but lack the prestige and power to exert near-term control over Palestinian areas, rein in radical groups or make political compromises with Israel.
.
For the time being, Israel is keeping its hands off some of Arafat's most senior security chiefs, apparently hoping to preserve some infrastructure that might corral militant groups and would-be terrorists in the future.
.
Chief among them is Jibril Rajoub, chief of Preventive Security in the West Bank, who Israeli officials believe has not joined the 200 or more Palestinian militants and others who have taken refuge inside the Security Service headquarters. They also include Mohammed Dahlan, Arafat's security chief in the Gaza Strip, who has close ties with the CIA and is regarded as a pragmatist by Israelis and Americans.
.
As Israeli officials describe it, the current military campaign, in scale and ambition, goes well beyond any previous offensive in the conflict. Israeli forces have already entered four of the eight largest Palestinian population centers in the West Bank - Ramallah, Tulkarm, Qalqilya and Bethlehem - and are preparing to enter more. About 20,000 military reservists have been called up for duty.
.
For now, there is substantial support for the Israeli policy from the Bush administration, Israel's main strategic ally. But there is a growing tension between the ambition of Sharon's goals - which many Israelis say are virtually unattainable - and the constraints of a world worried about instability in the Middle East, especially the Arab world.
.
Priest killed in Bethlehem
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A Catholic priest was killed and about six nuns were wounded by gunfire in Bethlehem on Tuesday, Palestinian medical officials said.
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The priest and nuns were inside the Santa Maria church, which was invaded by Israeli tanks earlier Tuesday amid heavy shooting, the sources said. Sharon suggests exile for Palestinian

JERUSALEM With its military sweep of Palestinian cities and camps, Israel has set out to hunt down hundreds of suspected militants and terrorists, among them some of Yasser Arafat's political and security lieutenants, a senior Israeli security official said Tuesday.
.
The determination to take in ranking officials from Arafat's Palestinian Authority represents a shift in Israeli policy, which until now has granted what amounts to immunity from arrest or assassination to Arafat's inner circle, the official said.
.
[Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday that Israel had proposed that Arafat be flown into exile by European diplomats, raising such a possibility for the first time in public, The Associated Press reported. Palestinian officials immediately responded that Arafat would never agree to go into exile.]
.
The Israeli security official's remarks, coupled with similar comments in the Israeli news media, constituted the most detailed attempt Israel has made to lay out the goals and scope of Sharon's five-day-old military thrust into Palestinian-administered territory in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said that some of the suspects sought by Israel had taken refuge with Arafat, the Palestinian leader, in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Others, he said, are among at least 200 Palestinians in the sprawling hilltop headquarters of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, a powerful agency that is one of Arafat's main points of contact with the CIA and is Israel's negotiating counterpart in efforts to coordinate security agreements.
.
The security service headquarters, near Ramallah, has been surrounded by Israeli forces determined to arrest all the wanted men inside. A spokesman for the Palestinian security force, Samir Rantisi, said that Israeli troops had launched an attack on the headquarters complex early Tuesday morning, using heavy machine guns and other weapons.
.
"Most of the important activists of Ramallah are now in these compounds," a senior Israeli security source said. "They are not going to get away. We are going to arrest all of them."
.
Among the most pronounced changes in its policy, Israel has decided to track down and arrest Arafat's top political lieutenant in the West Bank, Marwan Barghouti, the Israeli security source said. Barghouti, 42, an electrifying speaker and charismatic street leader, is often mentioned as a possible successor to Arafat. Despite identifying him as a key figure in terrorist and other attacks, Israel until now has exempted Barghouti from arrest on the grounds that he is too popular, too influential and too close to Arafat.
.
"We're going to arrest him, of course," the source said. "Our big mistake is we used to respect the Palestinian VIPs too much."
.
He also said that Israel was studying the possibility of arresting a number of top Palestinian security officials, most of whom have been in close contact with the CIA since Arafat established the Palestinian Authority in 1994.
.
These include Tawfiq Tirawi, Arafat's intelligence chief in the West Bank, and Rashid Abu Shbak, the No. 2 man in the Preventive Security force in the Gaza Strip. According to Israel, Tirawi has been involved in planning attacks on Israeli targets since the outset of the current Palestinian uprising in September 2000, and Abu Shbak is the key figure in the manufacture of Palestinian rockets and mortars in Gaza.
.
In widening its list of wanted men to include some of Arafat's top aides, Israel faces a dilemma. Israeli officials have often said they would like to exile or remove Arafat in the hopes that the next generation of Palestinian leaders would be more "moderate" and "pragmatic." But it is precisely that group of Palestinian leaders - men in their 40s with growing power bases - whose arrests Israel is now contemplating.
.
Israeli officials acknowledge that the dilemma goes deeper, and includes the question of whether to expel Arafat. Sharon, who calls Arafat a "bitter enemy" and has publicly wished him dead, has favored expulsion, despite opposition from the United States.
.
Israel's security and intelligence agencies appear to agree with only part of this assessment. On the one hand, the agencies contend that Arafat would represent a greater threat to Israeli interests if he were overseas, with free access to the world's leaders and television cameras, than he does caged up in his Ramallah headquarters surrounded by Israeli tanks, Israeli newspapers have reported.
.
On the other hand, the agencies have warned that Arafat's likely successors include militants who made their names organizing attacks on Israel, but lack the prestige and power to exert near-term control over Palestinian areas, rein in radical groups or make political compromises with Israel.
.
For the time being, Israel is keeping its hands off some of Arafat's most senior security chiefs, apparently hoping to preserve some infrastructure that might corral militant groups and would-be terrorists in the future.
.
Chief among them is Jibril Rajoub, chief of Preventive Security in the West Bank, who Israeli officials believe has not joined the 200 or more Palestinian militants and others who have taken refuge inside the Security Service headquarters. They also include Mohammed Dahlan, Arafat's security chief in the Gaza Strip, who has close ties with the CIA and is regarded as a pragmatist by Israelis and Americans.
.
As Israeli officials describe it, the current military campaign, in scale and ambition, goes well beyond any previous offensive in the conflict. Israeli forces have already entered four of the eight largest Palestinian population centers in the West Bank - Ramallah, Tulkarm, Qalqilya and Bethlehem - and are preparing to enter more. About 20,000 military reservists have been called up for duty.
.
For now, there is substantial support for the Israeli policy from the Bush administration, Israel's main strategic ally. But there is a growing tension between the ambition of Sharon's goals - which many Israelis say are virtually unattainable - and the constraints of a world worried about instability in the Middle East, especially the Arab world.
.
Priest killed in Bethlehem
.
A Catholic priest was killed and about six nuns were wounded by gunfire in Bethlehem on Tuesday, Palestinian medical officials said.
.
The priest and nuns were inside the Santa Maria church, which was invaded by Israeli tanks earlier Tuesday amid heavy shooting, the sources said. Sharon suggests exile for Palestinian

JERUSALEM With its military sweep of Palestinian cities and camps, Israel has set out to hunt down hundreds of suspected militants and terrorists, among them some of Yasser Arafat's political and security lieutenants, a senior Israeli security official said Tuesday.
.
The determination to take in ranking officials from Arafat's Palestinian Authority represents a shift in Israeli policy, which until now has granted what amounts to immunity from arrest or assassination to Arafat's inner circle, the official said.
.
[Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday that Israel had proposed that Arafat be flown into exile by European diplomats, raising such a possibility for the first time in public, The Associated Press reported. Palestinian officials immediately responded that Arafat would never agree to go into exile.]
.
The Israeli security official's remarks, coupled with similar comments in the Israeli news media, constituted the most detailed attempt Israel has made to lay out the goals and scope of Sharon's five-day-old military thrust into Palestinian-administered territory in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
.
The official, who asked not to be identified, said that some of the suspects sought by Israel had taken refuge with Arafat, the Palestinian leader, in his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Others, he said, are among at least 200 Palestinians in the sprawling hilltop headquarters of the Palestinian Preventive Security Service, a powerful agency that is one of Arafat's main points of contact with the CIA and is Israel's negotiating counterpart in efforts to coordinate security agreements.
.
The security service headquarters, near Ramallah, has been surrounded by Israeli forces determined to arrest all the wanted men inside. A spokesman for the Palestinian security force, Samir Rantisi, said that Israeli troops had launched an attack on the headquarters complex early Tuesday morning, using heavy machine