Arafat Says Israelis Are Trying to End Palestinian Self-Rule
Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, accused Israel today of seeking to destroy Palestinian self-rule with its intention, declared on Thursday, to "remove" him, but Israeli officials defended the policy as legitimate self-defense.

The Israeli decision, which followed two Hamas suicide bombings that killed 15 people, brought a range of criticism from around the world, including from the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, and the European Union. The Bush administration said deporting Mr. Arafat might be counterproductive.…

Israel accuses Mr. Arafat of direct involvement in terrorism, which he denies. Some Israeli officials argued that Israel was doing what the United States had done in Iraq, though, one noted acidly, Saddam Hussein, unlike Mr. Arafat, "wasn't 7 miles, 10 miles away from their major population centers."

Palestinians argue that it is they who are under attack, and that they have a right under international law to resist the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Further, they note, Mr. Arafat was popularly elected as president of the governing Palestinian Authority in internationally supervised elections.

Mr. Arafat told diplomats visiting him today at his compound in Ramallah, in the West Bank, "The danger here concerns Israel's determination to cancel the Palestinian partner and the Palestinian Authority." Israel denied that that was its intention.

The onetime peace partners were trading accusations on the 10th anniversary of the White House signing ceremony for the Oslo accords, which were intended to produce a lasting peace between them.

At the request of the Palestinian Ministry of Education, teachers brought thousands of schoolchildren to Mr. Arafat's compound today in the latest show of support for the longtime Palestinian leader.

Violence continued today. Overnight in the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli troops shot and killed an elderly bystander during a clash with gunmen, Palestinian authorities said.…

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/14/international/middleeast/14ISRA.html