Posted on 04/28/2002 11:31:28 AM PDT by TheLurkerX
New Flashes from Ha'Aretz
21:19 Bush proposal for U.K., U.S. guards for Ze`evi killers includes total lifting of travel ban on Yasser Arafat
21:18 Palestinians accept Bush proposal on U.K., U.S. guards for Ze`evi killers, PFLP head, PA finance chief
21:04 Colin Powell releases official letter outlining proposal to send Britons, Americans to guard Ze`evi killers
Sunday, April 28, 2002 Iyyar 16, 5762 Israel Time: 10:22 (GMT+3)
Last update - 22:00 28/04/2002
Arafat, Israel accept U.S. proposal to end Ramallah seige
By Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz Correspondent, Ha'aretz Service and agencies
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat accepted a proposal by President George W. Bush aimed at ending the siege upon his Ramallah compound, senior Palestinian official Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Sunday night.
Earlier in the evening, the Israeli government accepted the proposal, whereby American and British guards will be dispatched to the region to ensure that the killers of assassinated tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi remain behind bars in their Palestinian jail.
In light of Israel's agreement to the proposal, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has issued a formal letter detailing the elements of the plan.
Also included in the deal will be PFLP leader Ahmed Sa'adat and PA financial chief Fuad Shubeiki, believed by Israel to have orchestrated the Karine A weapons-smuggling affair. All six have been holed up in the Palestinian leader's compound since the siege began.
If the proposal is implemented, the Israeli siege on Arafat - in place since the end of March - will be lifted, enabling him to leave his Ramallah headquarters.
Under the terms of the deal, the travel ban on the Palestinian leader, in place since the end of 2001, will also be lifted, Channel One television reported.
After the cabinet split evenly over whether to accept Bush's proposal, Sharon spoke to Bush, who invited him to Washington, Israel Radio reported. The prime minister then ordered a revote in the cabinet, in which 17 ministers voted to accept the U.S. proposal, and nine voted against. Labor and Shas ministers were amongst those who voted in favor of the idea.
Those voting against were ministers Limor Livnat (Likud); Effi Eitam (NRP); Natan Sharansky (Yisrael b'Aliyah); Silvan Shalom (Likud); Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud); Uzi Landau (Likud); Danny Naveh (Likud); Yitzhak Levy (NRP) and David Levy (Gesher).
"The president views the vote of the Israeli cabinet as helpful and constructive," a White House official said in a statement. "The next move is up to Yasser Arafat."
A second administration official said Bush believes the arrangement puts Arafat on the spot, giving him another chance to demonstrate his willingness to fight terrorism.
There was no word on precisely where the six would be imprisoned under the U.S. proposal, but Israeli sources said it would be in the Palestinian-controlled areas.
Later Sunday, U.S. and British consular officials met with Arafat in his Ramallah headquarters to directly convey the U.S. proposal. It wasn't clear if the Palestinians would immediately respond.
Palestinian officials said they would not make any decision on the U.S. proposal until it had been formally presented to them. They also said that the idea had been raised during Arafat's meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell earlier this month.
Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan said the U.S. plan had not been formally presented, but noted that the Palestinians are opposed to "turning our prisoners over to the Israelis or allowing them to be imprisoned outside the Palestinian territories."
After a makeshift Palestinian court sentenced Ze'evi's killers to sentences ranging from one to 18 years, in a trial hastily arranged in Arafat's compound, Sharon said he was sticking to his demand that the four men implicated in last year's murder, be tried in an Israeli court.
Those backing the proposal argued that were Israel to accept it, then the U.S. might be more amenable to backing the government with regard to some of its requests relating to the UN investigation in Jenin. Sharon had disbanded the first discussion, saying that he was not prepared to cast the deciding vote.
Israel Radio reported that Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh (Labor) had argued that it would be unwise for Israel to turn down the U.S. offer, since the Americans and the British were Israel's only remaining asset in the diplomatic arena.
Under intense, almost brutal, pressure from U.S. President George W. Bush, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Sunday dropped his demand that the killers of assassinated tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi stand trial in an Israeli court - a move that effectively means Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat will be freed from captivity in his Ramallah compound. But the prime minister held out on another front, blocking the arrival of the UN fact-finding team to Jenin, for now.
Possibly realizing that another "no" to the Americans might be one too many, the prime minister pushed through a decision in the cabinet to accept Bush's proposal for American and British guards to be dispatched to the region to ensure that Ze'evi's killers - they received sentences of one to 18 years in a makeshift court in Arafat's compound last week - remain behind bars in their Palestinian prison.
"There was very, very heavy pressure - personal pressure applied by Bush," says Ha'aretz diplomatic commentator Akiva Eldar.
With the Palestinians accepting the proposal, the cabinet decision signals the beginning of the end of the siege on Arafat's office, which went into effect on March 29 as the IDF launched Operation Defensive Shield.
According to initial reports, the deal means a complete lifting of the travel ban on Arafat, enabling him not only to move freely around Palestinian-controlled areas, but also to travel abroad.
Also included in the deal are the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmed Sa'adat, and PA finance chief, Fuad Shubeiki, believed by Israel to have orchestrated the Karine A weapons-smuggling affair. Both men are currently holed up with Arafat and the four alleged assassins in the Palestinian leader's compound.
Only two weeks ago, when Secretary of State Colin Powell visited the region, Sharon had presented his demand for the extradition of Ze'evi's killers to Israel as a political casus belli. Questioned by Powell on the matter, Sharon boasted that he was not afraid to go to new national elections over the Ze'evi issue.
Already last week, though, Sharon appeared to be softening his position, when he said he was prepared to allow Arafat to leave his compound and travel to Gaza, as long as he left behind Shubeiki and Ze'evi's killers.
Channel Two television reported Sunday that Sharon feared his decision would be viewed by the public as a "zigzag" on something he had made a principle issue. Bush's invitation to Sharon to visit him in Washington next week - delivered Sunday by National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice - could well be seen as an attempt to sweeten the Ze'evi pill he was forced to swallow.
The American pressure, says Eldar, is also connected to Bush's meeting last Friday with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Lifting the siege on Arafat, he says, "was one of the things that Bush promised to the Saudis."
Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh (Labor), who strongly supported the American compromise at the weekly cabinet meeting, said Sunday that Israel had to realize the "battle is now moving to the diplomatic arena, and in this arena our greatest asset is U.S. support."
While Sharon balked on the Ze'evi issue, he stood firm on another front - his refusal, for now, to cooperate with the UN fact-finding mission to Jenin. The cabinet decided to delay a decision on whether to cooperate with the probe, forcing the delegation to cancel its scheduled flight Sunday to Israel.
Following the cabinet meeting, Likud minister and Sharon confidante Reuven Rivlin, said Israel would not allow the team to arrive because the UN had gone back on agreements it had reached with Israel. He said the composition of the team and its terms of reference made it inevitable that its report would present Israel as the guilty party.
"This awful United Nations committee is out to get us and is likely to smear Israel and to force us to do things which Israel is not prepared even to hear about, such as interrogating soldiers and officers who took part in the fighting," Rivlin said. "No country in the world would agree to such a thing."
But Sneh seemed to indicate that the team would ultimately be let in, and that when that happened, it would be best for Israel to ensure the Americans were on its side. "When the American president asks for something, demands something," he said, referring to the proposal on Ze'evi's killers, "we should comply so as to keep America on our side - especially with regard to matters that are upcoming, like the [United Nations] commission [to the Jenin refugee camp]."
Maybe Bush was offering one last Olive Branch of Peace for Arafat to either take or throw away ..... maybe it is a test.
Just wait and see what happens. If the Palis set off one more bomb in Israel or attack the U.S. again, I'm betting Bush will tell them to 'stuff it' with military force.
Put them in a Pali prison and the ‘mob’ will break them out. They need to be transported to a remote island, say in the middle of the Pacific, well away from their buddies.
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