Sharon says Arafat is a terrorist

The Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon said that Israel will not harm the chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat, in person. He added that destroying Arafat's helicopters at Gaza's airport was a measure to limit his move and push him to stop what Sharon described as " terrorism."

In a statement to the US magazine " Newsweek" issued today, of which the Israeli radio broadcast excerpts on Sunday, Sharon described Arafat as a real terrorist and that he does not believe in reaching peace with him. Sharon indicated that Israel can negotiate with what he named as pragmatics in the Palestinian authority.

Sharon also considered that there are very difficult problems that can not be solved like the question of Jerusalem and the return of the refugees.