Israeli Opposition Leader Blames Arafat For Rising Violence

A prominent Israeli politician asserted Wednesday that PLO leader Yasser Arafat is personally responsible for an upsurge in violence after Palestinian self-rule was introduced in Gaza and Jericho.

“We have information that Arafat himself … is very much interested in spreading terror in the center of the country,” said Ariel Sharon, an outspoken critic of the Middle East peace process.

Arafat has recently cracked down on the Muslim extremist Hamas group and other militant movements believed responsible for the spate of attacks in which 127 Israelis have died since home rule was announced in 1993.

Increasing violence by both Palestinians and Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza, both of which Israel occupied in the 1967 war, threatens to derail the peace process and the expansion of Palestinian self-rule.

Sharon, a right-wing member of Israel’s Parliament and a leading figure within the Likud opposition coalition, contended that elements of Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization are involved in the violence.