RAMALLAH—Besieged Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat sent a box of choclates to re-elected Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon today. The choclates were accompanied by a card on which Arafat had written “Congratulations to Arik, my peace of the brave partner, from Yasser.”

Israeli government spokesman Ra’anan Ga’anan said that the package was immediately taken outside, flattened by a bulldozer and then dynamited by an Israeli bomb squad. The card was shredded, pulped and dissolved in acid.

A grinning Arafat told reporters that he wanted to send a message of peace to Sharon, and explained “Mr. President George Bush said Sharon is a ‘man of peace’. Today I say Sharon is a man of peace.”

Added a finger-wagging Arafat, “Not to forget, Sharon was in Wye Plantation with me and my peace partner Clinton and Netanyahu when we signed together the Hebron agreement. Not to forget also Mr. Bush father President George made Madrid Peace Conference.”

As Arafat was speaking, dozens of Israeli tanks were invading Hebron, killing at least two people, injuring many others, and destroying homes and market stalls.