The Pressure to Hit Back.(Ariel Sharon urged to retaliate)(Brief Article)

For much of the meeting, hard-liners in Ariel Sharon's cabinet appeared to have the upper hand. A Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem hours earlier had killed 15 people, including seven children. The hawks told Sharon that his inaction two months ago, after a bomber killed 21 people in a Tel Aviv nightclub, had emboldened the guerrillas. At least one person at the meeting suggested aiming the reprisal directly at Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, to topple his regime. In the end, the cabinet agreed to seize nine buildings belonging to Arafat's political and security organizations, but it fell short of the hard-liners' proposals. "We must wage the struggle against the centers of terrorism," said Housing Minister Natan Sharansky. "And Arafat has to understand that sooner or later it will affect him."

A growing number of Israelis are tired of waiting. With each new bombing, Sharon faces increasing pressure to hit at Arafat. Even Israel's security establishment--which long warned that chaos in a post-Arafat era would be more dangerous to Israel than the current violence--has reversed its assessment. One intelligence report recently placed on Sharon's desk said Arafat threatened Israel's greatest political assets in the region: peace accords with Egypt and Jordan. Another evaluation prepared by the Shin Bet security service concluded: "The harm caused by [Arafat's] disappearance would be minor compared to the damage he causes by his continued existence." The latter was leaked to an Israeli newspaper, in a move some analysts viewed as psychological ...