JERUSALEM — Top Israeli officials on Sunday played down Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's latest threat against Yasser Arafat, saying Israel has no immediate plans to harm or evict the Palestinian leader.
"I don't see the possibility that Arafat will be expelled or assassinated tomorrow morning," Cabinet Minister Gideon Ezra told Israel Radio.
He added, though, that Sharon's comments should be considered a warning against attacks by Palestinian militants. Israeli officials hold Arafat responsible for bombings and other strikes against Israelis.
Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sharon's comments had thrown Arafat into "a state of panic." That, he said, was good for Israel.
The ministers' remarks followed a flurry of international criticism generated by Sharon's comments on Israeli television Friday that he no longer felt bound by a 3-year-old commitment to President Bush to not harm Arafat, who is confined to a compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Sharon informed Bush of his change of heart during a visit to Washington two weeks ago.
After Sharon's televised comments, U.S. officials reiterated that they opposed any attempt to harm Arafat.
Sharon has made previous threats against the Palestinian Authority president, who was said to be concerned for his safety after Israel assassinated Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin last month and killed his successor, Abdulaziz Rantisi, on April 17. Sharon warned this month that Arafat was not immune.
Many analysts read Sharon's new threat as an effort to appeal to right-wing members of his own Likud Party, which is weighing his proposal for a unilateral evacuation of all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four others in the northern West Bank. Likud will hold an internal vote on the pullout plan next Sunday, and settlement activists are waging an energetic campaign to defeat it.
Opponents consider evacuating territory without gaining concessions from the Palestinians as a victory for terrorism. Palestinian militants say an Israeli pullout would vindicate their armed resistance.
On Sunday, Palestinian missiles struck a Gaza Strip settlement, injuring two Israelis and damaging two homes.
Sharon's tough posture toward Arafat would help show that Israel is not being chased out of the Gaza Strip, analysts said, but there was skepticism that he would act in the absence of a significant new attack against Israel.
