Demands to kill Arafat

Hardliners in Israel are today demanding the death of Yasser Arafat after the murder of 16 people by a suicide bomber in a pool hall near Tel Aviv.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is chairing an emergency cabinet meeting after breaking short his visit to Washington.

The bomber walked into the unlicensed "Sheffield Club" which was packed with drinkers and detonated a bag of explosives filled with ball bearings and bits of metal.

The blast tore away the front of the building and caused its roof to collapse, trapping many of the dead beneath reinforced concrete. More than 50 people were injured.

Among the demands Mr Sharon will have to deal with is a growing call from hawks in his government and his military that Israel must target Mr Arafat for assassination because they blame him for actively supporting the terror groups. Mr Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organisation today denied it had any role in the outrage.

A furious Mr Sharon said before leaving Washington: "To anyone who tries to blackmail Israel into making concessions - either big or small - through the weapon of terror and intimidation, or tries to blackmail the state of Israel through sowing fear, I say today: Israel will not surrender to blackmail. He who rises up to kill us, we will pre-empt it and kill him first. Israel will fight anyone who tries, through suicide terrorism, to sow fear. Israel will fight, Israel will triumph and when victory prevails, Israel will make peace. Decisions will be made.

"It's completely clear to me that we will have to act forcefully. This situation cannot go on."

Asked whether he would seek government approval for the expulsion of Mr Arafat, which has been demanded by some Israeli politicians, he said he was not going to discuss what he would tell the cabinet.

Mr Sharon said he had gone to Washington "to discuss prospects of peace and stability in the region and the possibility of reforming the Palestinian Authority, a goal which the United States shares.

"There is no way to move forward on the political process with a terrorist and corrupt entity (under Arafat)," he said.

The attack in the coastal town of Rishon Letzion was aimed at shattering any hopes of a diplomatic break through in the Middle East conflict.

Hours after the blast, the atrocity was claimed by Hamas, the extremist Islamic group.

Witness, Moti Cohen, who was in the hall at the time of the explosion, said: "We were talking about a game and then all of a sudden there was an explosion. I was thrown down and bodies piled up on top of me."

Hanit Azulai said she was on her way home when she heard a huge explosion. "I turned the corner and I saw the whole building go up before my eyes," she said.

The attack was the second suicide bombing since Mr Sharon ordered his army into the West Bank on Operation Defensive Shield at the end of March - in response to a bombing in Netanya which claimed 29 lives.

Both recent atrocities have been attempts by militant groups to prove that Israel's invasion of the Palestinian areas has not succeeded in its aim of rooting out terror organisations.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, refuse to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist and have condemned all peace talks with the "Zionist Entity".

A senior United Nations official held a private meeting with senior Hamas officials in Gaza yesterday at which he told them that suicide bombings were not only immoral, but badly undermined the cause of the Palestinians. His words were ignored.

Today Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza City, said: "We do not have any clear evidence or information except what we are seeing on TV. But if it is a martyrdom operation, it means that Israel has lost its war against the Palestinians and the Palestinian resistance has proved that it is capable of reaching the enemy everywhere."

Mr Arafat's office condemned the attack and said that its planners would be found and severely punished.

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