Israel rebuffed on Saturday a UN Security Council warning not to go through with its threat to exile Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, even as a defiant Arafat condemned the threat as a bid to eradicate Palestinian independence, and appealed for international intervention. Israel cited self-defence as justification for Thursday’s security Cabinet decision to ‘‘remove’’ Arafat after two suicide bombings. Arab states seek UN shield UNITED NATIONS: Arab and Non-Aligned nations asked the UN Security Council on Friday to quickly adopt a resolution demanding that Israel do nothing to harm or deport President Yasser Arafat. (Reuters) On the 10th anniversary of the Oslo interim accords that granted Palestinians limited self-rule, Arafat told visiting diplomats at his Ramallah headquarters: ‘‘The danger here concerns Israel’s determination to cancel the Palestinian partner and the Palestinian Authority.’’ He said he was still committed to the latest peace drive, a US-backed roadmap to Palestinian statehood: ‘‘All this requires the international community pressure Israel to stop its policy.’’ Israeli special forces are set to pluck Arafat from his headquarters, where blockades have kept him largely confined for the past 21 months, and take him to an unspecified point abroad. Meanwhile, thousands of school children rallied outside Arafat’s office today, surging toward the Palestinian leader when he waved and blew kisses from a window. The children, clapping and cheering for Arafat, said: ‘‘In our souls and our blood we defend Abu Ammar.’’ Further fuelling the fury, Israeli troops killed an elderly bystander during clashes with gunmen in Nablus, according to witnesses. The Israeli border police prevented a potentially heavy suicide bomb attack early today, the Daily Haaretz reported in its online edition. Police found three belts with 20 kgs of explosives in a house in Al-Asaria near Jerusalem, according to sources.
