In the wake of a chain of weekend suicide bombings against Israel that killed 25 people and wounded nearly 200, and amid sharp international condemnation of the attacks, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has ordered dozens of Islamic militants arrested. Nevertheless, Israeli hardliners have renewed longstanding calls for his overthrow, said reports.
The attacks began on Saturday night when 10 young Israelis and two suicide bombers were killed in Jerusalem, said the BBC. Hours later, at least 15 people were killed when a bus was ripped apart by a bomb in the port of Haifa.
In the wake of the attacks, Israeli hardliners are calling for the "removal" of the Palestinian leader, according to AP.
The urgings come in spite of Israeli army reports that Arafat's Palestinian Authority (PA) is already on the verge of collapse in the Gaza Strip due to the economic stranglehold the Jewish state has kept on Palestinians for several months.
The army analysts warned last month that the PA could be replaced by a massive, desperation-fueled popular uprising against Israel's 34-year occupation of Palestinian land - a charge echoed by more moderate Israeli leaders.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AP that 90 militants had been arrested, including senior Hamas leaders Ismail Abu Shanab and Ismail Haniya. Security chief Jibril Rajoub said those involved in the bombings “would pay the price.”
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, for his part, cut short a US trip to rush home after meeting with President George W. Bush, who denounced the bombings as “horrific acts of murder.”
Israel and the US have repeatedly blocked Palestinian attempts to invite international observers into the Occupied Territories in order to monitor ceasefires.
The most recent string of attacks followed the assassination of the head of one of the top Palestinian resistance groups, as well as the deaths of five Palestinian schoolboys who were blown apart by a booby-trap planted by Israeli forces.
Palestinians are engaged in a 14-month uprising against Israeli military occupation of land siezed from Palestinian owners in 1967, as well as the poverty and daily humiliations that have accompanied the decades of foreign domination.
The latest attacks bring to well over 200 the number of Israelis killed in the latest uprising, and news agencies report more than 2,000 wounded.
At the same time, according to the Tel Aviv-based Haaretz newspaper, over 700 Palestinians have been killed, and from 8,500 to 10,000 have been injured by occupation forces - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
