Posted on 03/05/2002 3:21:46 PM PST by montag813
JERUSALEM (March 6) - The security cabinet decided yesterday to grant the IDF free rein to further intensify military pressure on the Palestinian Authority, especially in Ramallah, where PA Chairman Yasser Arafat remains limited in movement.
After four hours of bitter disagreements, in which Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres pleaded not to return the tanks removed last week from the area around Arafat's compound, the security cabinet authorized the IDF to decide whether to redeploy the tanks.
After the meeting, Peres issued his harshest criticism of the government yet, telling confidants he is very upset by the decisions and does not know how much longer he can remain in the government, when there seems to be no hope for advancement on the diplomatic front.
"If I would have known the reality would get this bad, I would not have joined this government in the first place," a dejected Peres said.
"The decision to hit the Palestinians even harder will not achieve anything. Entering the refugee camps and using fighter jets will only harm Israel's sense of morality and its image abroad. We will pay a heavy price for scorning international opinion."
IDF officers and intelligence officials briefed the ministers about the recent terrorist attacks. Security officials said Arafat wants an escalation in violence and considers every attack an achievement.
In addition to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Ben-Eliezer, and Peres, Finance Minister Silvan Shalom, National Infrastructure Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Minister without Portfolio Dan Meridor, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, and Construction and Housing Minister Natan Sharansky participated.
They decided to prevent Palestinians from traveling on roads in Judea and Samaria until further notice.
Peres, who postponed state visits to Bulgaria and Hungary because of the escalation in violence, was especially critical of the decision to continue belittling Arafat by keeping him in Ramallah. He tried unsuccessfully to convince his colleagues of the need to talk to the Palestinians while taking the necessary steps to defend the state.
"If Arafat is not the address and he is irrelevant, then there is no point in pressuring him," Peres said. "According to this government's thesis, there is no one on the Palestinian side who can even start acting against terrorism, and even if there were, they would not have any reason."
Peres said to bring the tanks closer to Arafat would miss the point. "If Arafat is irrelevant, we have nothing to ask from him and it does not matter whether he is in Ramallah or elsewhere. But if he is relevant, we need to be talking to him."
Lieberman (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu) was not satisfied with the decision either. He hoped that after a day in which Sharon called for massive blows to the PA, he would authorize a death blow to Arafat's regime.
Shalom called for expelling Arafat, but Yishai said Arafat would have much more freedom, and international sympathy, if he returns to exile in Tunis.
Sharon updated US Secretary of State Colin Powell about this week's attacks after the meeting. He told him Israel will continue to take all the necessary steps to protects its citizens. Sharon said he would not let the PA in general, and the refugee camps in particular, become sanctuaries for terrorists.
Sharon and Powell were expected to discuss the possibility of US special envoy Anthony Zinni returning to the region in an effort to stop the escalation.
Nina Gilbert adds: Meretz and opposition leader Yossi Sarid called on the Labor Party to immediately leave the "Sharon-Lieberman government." The presence of the Labor Party in the government can no longer be justified given Sharon's "plan to reconquer the territories and topple the Palestinian Authority," he said.
MK Zvi Hendel (National Union) said the time has come for the Sharon government to launch a military campaign to bring about the dismantlement of the PA or call immediate elections.
He said the firing of Kassam rockets on Sderot proves erecting a fence as part of a unilateral separation from the Palestinians would not provide security, only worsen it.
We are too!!! Do us a favor and resign! If I was an Israeli I would think that Peres is a Palestinian sympathizer. I WOULD DEMAND HIS RESIGNATION!!!!
I hope those plans contain turning the Dome of the Rock into the Pile of Debris.
Why doesn't he leave it and Israel now and go join Bill Clinton somewhere.
MR SHARON, TEAR DOWN THESE MOSQUES! (on Temple Mt)
Barry Chamish likes Peres as the engineer of the assassination of Rabin, and Amir as the designated patsy.
But you knew that.
If I was an Israeli I would think that Peres is a Palestinian sympathizer.--truthandlife
Peres is one leaver we'd hope the door would hit--with a high g-force.
Labor and Sharon are toast in the next Israeli election.
Sharon will never use enough force while he is stuck with Labor as his coaliiton partner, and he can't win the next election.
But I doubt even Netyhanu will use enough force initially. Eventually yes, but not right away. It will be brutal then - what Assad did to the city of Hamas will pale by comparison. The real question will be how many zeroes in the body count. At least six figures, with a possibility of seven.
And I'm not kidding. The Palestinians have no idea what is coming.
Not exclusively:
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