Arafat Should Be Sidelined For Peace: Sharon

"It is a major mistake to keep up contact with Arafat because he is undermining (Palestinian Prime Minister) Abu Mazen’s government," Sharon told the British Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"Arafat still controls the larger part of their armed forces, and part of the money, and he has got all those telephone calls from leaders, mostly from Europe ," Sharon said.

"Every act of this nature only postpones progress. Most European countries are doing that. They are undermining Abu Mazen," Sharon said.

Sharon is due to arrive in Britain on Sunday, July 13, for meetings with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

He will also be meeting with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Monday then holding talks with the leaders of the Jewish community on Tuesday.

The London visit is being seen as an attempt to mend fences between Britain and Israel months after relations between the two hit a new low after Straw upset Sharon by openly taking the Palestinian side while on a visit to Iran last October.

And further insult was caused after Straw suggested in the run-up to the Iraq war that the international community was acting with double standards for using force to implement UN resolutions against Baghdad while Israel was able to ignore other rulings by the world body with apparent impunity.

Observers in the Middle East believe Sharon ’s bringing up of Arafat removal at this stage could be an attempt to shed the light on reported inner Palestinian power struggle, thus, avoiding meeting Israel ’s commitments to peace as guidelined in the peace roadmap.

In another development, the Israeli army demolished a three-storey house near the border with Egypt on Friday, July 11, using bulldozers and without giving prior warning to residents, Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted a Palestinian security source as saying.

Israeli forces also opened fire on Palestinian dwellings at the Khan Younis refugee camp, and at a Palestinian security post, without causing any injuries, said the source.

The Israeli escalation came as the ranking Egyptian security delegation wrapped up fruitful talks with Palestinian factions with the aim of entrenching the fledgling three-month truce with Israel, while Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is expected to arrive in the Palestinian territories Saturday or Sunday for more talks.