Sharon Urges Israeli Raids on PLO Camps in Jordan

Former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, the architect of the war in Lebanon, called today for Israel to strike at Palestinian guerrilla command posts in Jordan.

Sharon and Moshe Arens, another former defense minister and right-wing hawk, each outlined tough security plans for the occupied West Bank at a meeting of right-wing parliamentarians.

Sharon, now trade minister, said he would banish or rearrest 600 Palestinian guerrillas released into the West Bank and Gaza Strip last May in exchange for three Israeli soldiers.

He said Israel, which is considering a peace dialogue with Jordan and the Palestinians, should not act as if guerrilla bases in Jordan were immune from attack.

“There is a need to strike the terrorist headquarters in Jordan,” he said. He also said Israel should tell Amman and Washington that it will not enter peace negotiations with Jordan as long as guerrillas are based there.

Last week, Israel’s current defense minister, Yitzhak Rabin, said the Palestine Liberation Organization had renewed its presence in Jordan, making it easier to direct terrorist cells in the neighboring West Bank.

Arens, a minister-without-portfolio, recommended that Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank harboring stone throwers be uprooted and moved to bleak, isolated terrain near Jericho in the Jordan Valley.