Arafat defies new Sharon threats

Arafat says all Palestinians are "martyrs-in-waiting"

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has dismissed fresh threats against him by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Addressing cheering supporters outside his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Mr Arafat said Israel could never get rid of him.

In poetic Arabic, Mr Arafat said the wind would never move the mountain.

Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said killing Mr Arafat would end peace efforts. In ongoing violence, Israelis killed three Palestinian militants on Saturday.

The [US] president firmly believes he has a commitment from Prime Minister Sharon that no such attempt will be made Colin Powell US Secretary of State

The army said the men had been preparing a suicide attack inside Israel and were killed after they fired at soldiers who were trying to arrest them in the West Bank town of Jenin.

The men are said to have been members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group linked to Mr Arafat's Fatah faction.

Martyrdom defiance

On Friday, Mr Sharon said he had told US President George W Bush he was no longer bound by a pledge not to harm the Palestinian leader physically.

But the US has insisted that Mr Sharon should honour the promise made three years ago.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said President Bush had made it clear he would oppose any attempts against the life of Mr Arafat and "the president firmly believes that he has a commitment from Prime Minister Sharon that no such attempt will be made".

Sharon's warning precedes a crucial vote by his party

Mr Bush's National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice called Mr Sharon's chief of staff to discuss the issue.

Israel accuses Mr Arafat of supporting Palestinian militants.

But the Palestinian leader sounded defiant in front of thousands of his supporters pledging to sacrifice their "blood and souls" for him.

"All of us are martyrs-in-the-waiting," Mr Arafat said.

"I tell Sharon and his gang, 'Oh mountain, the wind will never move you'," he said.

Mr Sharon's comments on Mr Arafat come just over a week before a crucial party vote within his Likud party on his unilateral plan for a withdrawal from Gaza.

President Bush gave his support to Mr Sharon's proposal describing it as "historic and courageous".

But in the last month, Israel has killed both the spiritual and political leaders of Hamas in missile strikes on Gaza.

The BBC's Rob Watson says the US was widely criticised in the Arab world and beyond for its failure to condemn those attacks and is clearly in no mood to face another diplomatic storm should Yasser Arafat be targeted next.