Sharon Cuts Short Trip for Urgent Meetings

The Israeli prime minister rushed home from India Thursday for urgent Cabinet meetings in the wake of two Palestinian suicide bombings and a new air strike in Gaza. Israel’s foreign minister said a majority of Cabinet members want to expel Yasser Arafat, despite U.S. objections.

The violence underscored the collapse of U.S.-brokered peace efforts and came amid political uncertainty after the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, whose successor was expected to name his Cabinet on Thursday.

An official on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plane, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, blamed Arafat for the bombings. “Arafat is responsible because of his strategy to try to have a political process alongside terror,” the official said.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said that a majority in the Cabinet wants to send Arafat into exile, and that Sharon’s security advisers increasingly support the idea after initially warning that expulsion is counterproductive.

However, the foreign minister said the prime minister might not put the proposal to a vote in the Cabinet unless the United States agrees – and the United States is very unlikely to approve of expelling Arafat.

“We are in a situation in which (U.S.) approval for this, in case we asked for it, would be almost impossible to obtain,” Shalom said.

Sharon’s plane landed at Israel’s airport outside Tel Aviv early Thursday. The security Cabinet, made up of senior ministers, was to convene later in the day after Sharon met with military commanders and the defense minister.

Witnesses reported Israeli troop movements in Ramallah. Israel is in control of the West Bank Palestinian town and has trapped Arafat in his office building there for more than a year.

Israeli forces blew up two houses early Thursday – one in Ramallah, south of Arafat’s compound, and the other in the suburb of Beitunia. Both blasts could be heard at the compound, where tension was high but no unusual activity was seen.

The Hamas military wing claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s suicide bombings, which killed 15 people. It called the attacks “the beginning of our retaliation for the enemy’s crimes against our people.”

A spokesman for the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, loosely linked to Arafat’s Fatah movement, said his group also was behind the first bombing, at a bus stop outside an army base near Tel Aviv.

The explosion at the bus stop killed eight soldiers. Five hours later, a second blast killed a security guard and six patrons at a popular Jerusalem coffee house. Dozens of bystanders were wounded.

Among the dead in the Jerusalem attack were two U.S. citizens, David Applebaum, the chief of a hospital emergency room; and his daughter, Nava, who was to be married the following day. Applebaum moved to Israel from Cleveland two decades ago.

In initial retaliation, Israeli planes leveled the house of Mahmoud Zahar, a top spokesman of Hamas, wounding him and killing his eldest son and a bodyguard. It marked the first time a Hamas leader has been attacked in his home, an escalation of Israel’s campaign against the Islamic militant group. Twenty-five people were wounded, including Zahar’s wife and a daughter.

In response, Hamas threatened more attacks against Israel, aiming at Israeli houses and high-rises. “Targeting homes is violating all red lines,” Hamas said in a statement.

Amid the escalating violence, the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Ahmed Qureia, accepted Arafat’s appointment as prime minister, replacing Abbas, who resigned over the weekend.

Palestinian officials said Qureia was to announce his proposed Cabinet on Thursday. An unofficial list included a staunch Arafat supporter- Maj. Gen. Nasser Yousef – in the key post of interior minister, in charge of security forces. Israel and the United States have demanded that Arafat relinquish control over Palestinian security.

President Bush urged Qureia to crack down on militants and said the United States has not abandoned the internationally sponsored “road map” peace plan despite Tuesday’s suicide bombings.

“The road map is still there. The fundamental question is whether or not people, peaceful people, will be on the road,” Bush told reporters at the White House.

In Hebron early Thursday, Israeli troops demolished the home of Abdullah Kawasme, formerly the head of the Hamas military wing in the West Bank city, who was killed by the army several months ago.

Israeli forces also destroyed 14 structures in the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border, Palestinian security officials said. Israeli military sources said the buildings were used by Palestinians to fire weapons at Israeli positions. Six Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were wounded.

In the northern West Bank late Wednesday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian who was trying to damage a security fence between the West Bank and Israel, the military said.