Israel wanted to arrest Yasser Arafat and exile him from West Bank

Former Israeli Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz admitted that he, along with former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, had decided to arrest Yasser Arafat and deport him from the West Bank, Quds Net News (QNN) reported on Friday.

In an interview with Israeli Channel 1 television station, Mofaz recognised the plan to impose a siege on the leader of the PLO, Palestinian Authority and Fatah Yasser Arafat.

The interview was conducted to mark the 15th anniversary of the beginning of a siege which included, according to Mofaz, a plan to raid Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah, arrest him and exile him via aeroplane prepared specifically for this mission.

Mofaz said that the Israeli security services had enough information about Arafat to the degree that Israeli officers would have been able to sneak into his bedroom when he is sleeping, arrest him, a small number of his close aides and his doctor and exile them to a place very far from Israel’s borders.

Arafat died in a French military hospital in Paris in November 2004 after he suffered severe health problems resulting from suspected poison being served to him by one of his senior aides on behalf of the Israeli occupation.