Posted on 04/28/2002 1:11:23 PM PDT by AmericaUnited
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.
The American + British guards are dead men. Within months, an "out of control, rampaging" mob, (planned by Ararat), will storm the jail, kill the guards, and let these scum out.
The only good that will come out of it, is that then the Israelis can pop each one of them for good.
I fully support President Bush, but I believe he is opening Pandora's box again. If Arafat acts like Arafat, terror attacks will follow, and President Bush won't be able to claim that he didn't know this was likely. Arafat needs to be removed from the scene, not thrust back into center stage.
Following Colon Bowell's advice and pandering to the Arabs will not win the war against terror. It won't stop jihadists from launching attacks or acquiring nukes. I'm confident that Bush has a plan up his sleeves, but I'm also confident that Saddam and his ally Arafat will upset this plan.
I don't want our lads doing this nasty duty for long. However let's take them out bungee jumping, sans cord, for prison exercise and we'll have it done quickly.
Regards, Ivan
Are you forgetting who grieved with us on 9-11, and who cheered in the streets?!
Last I heard on one of the news channcels, the US/Brits would also be working out the details of a larger, joint force of US/Brits going over there to "monitor the peace" or some such crap.
This strikes me as the stupidest things since all those marines were put in a barracks in that other Arab place...
The Westerners will be targets of every Arab nutcase in the region just for destablization purposes, plus the effing PLO will be able to 1) hide behind them and snipe at the Israelis because the Israelis can hardly risk shooting at US/Brit soldiers; 2) hide behind them and shoot them from a front angle to blame on the Israelis...
What's going to happen to US/Israel relations when US citizens start dying, and the pro-PLO press starts harping on the possibility that the Israelis are doing the killing?!
Mark W.
Arafat is a pig!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.