Assassination attempt on Arafat's life by Israel
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 5/16/2001

A high ranking Jordanian official said on Tuesday that the Jordanian King Abdullah II on Monday at dawn received a telephone call from the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on being exposed to an assassination attempt on Monday by the Israeli forces and that the Jordanian King had made necessary contacts at the regional and international levels. A matter which foiled this attempt.

The Jordanian weekly al-Hilal quoted the source as saying that King Abdullah could with great difficulty hear the telephone because of the sounds of the Israeli bombardment when Arafat informed him that the bombardment which is close to him targets his personal life.

The source reported that King Abdullah immediately started, in co-ordination with Egypt his regional and international contacts, adding that available information to Egypt and Jordan stress that Arafat was targeted, actually as a result of the bombardment which besieged him and claimed his life, according to a tactic laid and supervised by the Israeli chief of staff Shaoul Mofaz and with the consent of Ariel Sharon, on the ground that the assassination to be made during Arafat's meeting with the official spokesman for the Hamas movement Abdul Aziz al-Ranteisi after releasing him and thus the pretext will be that the targeted is al-Ranteisi, rather than Arafat.

The paper quoted the source as saying that the American side was informed from Jordan what Sharon had planned for and then a high official at the US CIA telephoned his Israeli counterpart and warned him against the assassination of Arafat.

The source added that the Jordanian, Egyptian and American contacts continued on Monday and the European role was used to calm down and prevent Sharon from implementing his plan.

Previous Stories:
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  Seven Palestinians killed and tens wounded on the wake of al-Nakbah anniversary   (5/15/2001)
  Israeli forces broke into Rafah   (5/14/2001)

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