Palestinians fear Israel will use US strikes on Iraq to send Arafat into exile

Palestinian officials are increasingly worried that Israel will use the opportunity of a US war on Iraq to launch widescale operations against the Palestinian Authority, sweeping it and its leader Yasser Arafat into exile.

"We fear Israel will force president Arafat and the members of the Palestinian administration into exile and displace the population in an internal transfer operation," said Mamduh Nawfal, an adviser to the Palestinian leader.

He added that "these operations depend on the American administration's approval."

"These operations will not be easy and will create an atmosphere of anarchy which will further complicate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Nawfal told AFP.

Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads the hardliners in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party had said in November that a US strike on Iraq would provide an ideal opportunity to oust Arafat.

Such an operation would "enable us to get rid of Saddam Hussein and provide a good opportunity to get rid of Arafat," said the hawkish former prime minister.

Nawfal fears "the Palestinians will once again pay the price of the war in Iraq as was the case during the Gulf war."

Many commentators argue that the negative impact of Arafat's public support for Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Gulf war on international opinion forced the Palestinians into making bigger concessions in the peace process which started the same year in Madrid.

Sakher Habash, a central committee member of Arafat's ruling Fatah party, predicted that "no scenario should be ruled out and that Sharon will do everything he can to fight the Intifada."

Following a spate of deadly Palestinian suicide bombings in June, the Israeli army reoccupied most of the West Bank and both Sharon and US President George W. Bush called for Arafat to be dumped.