July 2001 Africa News Headlines

Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - Web posted at 10:03:54 AM GMT

Mubarak warns Israel against threatening to eliminate Arafat

ALEXANDRIA - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday warned Israel to stop threatening to get rid of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, saying the region's problems would not be solved by force.

"It's very dangerous. They must stop saying things like we'll kill Arafat, we'll kill so and so, because they can't behave like thugs," Mubarak told journalists at apress conference near Alexandria.

According to Israeli newspaper reports, Israel's domestic security service has concluded the Jewish state would be better off if Arafat were made to "disappear."

If he disappeared, 30 or 40 other Arafats would appear and 30 or 40 other (Palestinian) organisations would appear and they (Israel) would not know whom to deal with," he said, adding that international and Arab opinion would be enraged by such a short-sighted "crime."

"The Egyptian leader warned that Israel's assassination of Palestinian activists would only encourage more people to seek "revenge and violence," not only in the region but across the world. - Nampa-Sapa-AFP

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