JERUSALEM, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The Israeli government Thursday decided "in principle" to deport Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat but will hold off taking such action "for now."
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called the cabinet meeting in the wake of two Tuesday suicide bombings -- one at a Jerusalem cafe and the other outside an IDF base near Rishon Letzion. A total of 15 people died in the blasts.
The Israeli source, quoted by various media, said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's national security cabinet decided to instruct the army to prepare a plan for Arafat's expulsion to exile in a foreign country.
Meanwhile, a cabinet statement called Arafat "an obstacle to peace" and said "Israel will take steps to remove the obstacle in a manner and at a time of its choosing."
The Israeli government has long accused Arafat of backing Palestinian extremist groups and refuses to enter into peace negotiations with him.
Arafat's immediate comment to foreign correspondents from his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah was: "Nobody is going to send me away. They can kill me with their bombs, but I'm not leaving."
A main obstacle to Israel carrying out its threat to expel the Palestinian leader, according to observers, is that Washington is against it. A U.S. statement Thursday repeated Washington's opposition, saying deporting Arafat would not be useful in easing current tensions.
Calls for Arafat's deportation have been increasing in Sharon's government. On Thursday, the Jerusalem Post, in an editorial headlined, "Arafat must go," called on the Sharon government to kill Arafat because "there was no alternative."
