Posted on 09/17/2003 6:29:07 PM PDT by yonif
Ahmed Qurei, the incoming Palestinian prime minister said Wednesday he will offer Israel a comprehensive truce, and Palestinian officials said Hamas has signaled it might agree to stop attacks on Israelis. In an interview with Israeli television, Arafat said he is prepared to instate a renewed cease-fire with Israel which he would supervise
But Israeli leaders say they want to first see Palestinian action to take Hamas and other militant groups out of commission before considering a cease-fire.
The disagreement over the idea of a new truce underlined the depth of mistrust after three years of conflict and the failure of a unilateral truce declared by militants in June, which largely held for about two months until a Hamas suicide bombing that killed 23 people in Jerusalem last month.
Tensions have also risen following an open-ended Israeli government decision last week to "remove" Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, whom it accuses of fomenting terrorism. The United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution Tuesday that sought to shield Arafat from Israeli action. Arafat dismissed the veto as insignificant on Wednesday. "No decision here or there will shake us," he told supporters at his West Bank headquarters. "We are bigger than all decisions.
Nevertheless, Arafat told Channel 2 Wednesday that he was prepared to instate a renewed cease-fire with Israel which he, in his new empowered position - following the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas, would supervise. Arafat said contacts are underway with all Palestinian factions over a cease-fire. "Even the Islamic Jihad said they are willing to respect a cease fire, and we are continuing our contacts with Hamas," he said.
"We call for the immediate implementation of the road map and for dispatching international observers to the region to end this tragedy... When there's a will to peace, there will be peace."
Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qurei said once he has formed a new government, he will "call on the Israelis to agree to a mutual cease-fire" to clear the way for a reopening of negotiations and progress on the stalled "road map" peace plan.
Qurei was tapped by Arafat to replace Mahmoud Abbas, who resigned Sept. 6 after four months of wrangling with the Palestinian leader over his authority, with Israel over how to implement the road map, and with Hamas and other militants over stopping attacks on Israelis.
In recent days, Hamas leaders abroad have been in touch by phone with top Palestinian officials to discuss a possible truce, and a senior Palestinian official said Hamas is now signaling it would stop the attacks in exchange for a halt of Israel's military strikes, including targeted killings of Hamas members.
Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin delivered the message recently in a meeting with Zakaria al-Agha, an envoy sent by Yasser Arafat, in Gaza City, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Hamas wants to reach a new hudna (temporary cease-fire)," one PA official told The Jerusalem Post. "They seem to be serious about it."
Yassin survived an Israeli air strike earlier this month, one in a series of attacks that have killed 13 Hamas members and six bystanders in the past month. Following the attack, Yassin and other Hamas leaders went into hiding.
Adnan Asfour, a senior Hamas political leader in the West Bank, said his group was prepared in principle to begin a dialogue with the Palestinian Authority on a new cease-fire. "We want a hudna which Israel would abide by and would not try to thwart," he explained.
Israel has said it will press on with the campaign if the Palestinians don't act to disarm the militants, as required by the "road map" plan. The Palestinians have said that must be done in consultation, rather than confrontation, with the militant groups.
"Israel does not accept the idea of a cease-fire as a means or as an alternative to fighting terror," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled said. But he added Israeli sees a cease-fire "as an eventual possibility after we have found a Palestinian partner who begins to fight terror."
Hamas has claimed responsibility for scores of suicide bombings that have killed hundreds of Israelis in the past three years. But the group's leadership appears to have been rattled by the Israeli air strikes, as well as by efforts to prevent foreign funding from reaching the group and its related charities.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said US officials made clear they don't oppose the idea of a cease-fire but want assurances from both sides to carry out obligations under the road map, which calls for an end to the violence and the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005.
US officials also informed the Palestinians that their veto "is not in any way a green light for Israel to implement its threat against President Arafat," Shaath said. The Americans reiterated their opposition to expelling or harming him, he said.
It is widely believed that Israel might move against Arafat in response to another major terror attack.
But Arafat remained at the center of political contacts in Ramallah to form a new government. Members of his Fatah movement are to meet Thursday to choose Cabinet ministers, and Palestinian officials have said the establishment of the government would probably take another week in all.
Sounds like Israel has a solid strategy to me
Bomb them and cut off the cash until they capitulate to terms
Arafat needs to expire from a sudden and unexpected heart attack.
/john
Would you risk a Hellfire missile to squeeze the Charmin?
Arafat needs to expelled and banned forever.
His death will only make him a martyr and inflame the fires.
Send him away to nice comfy hideaway where he will die of boredom
Personally, I'll like to see his head on a pike.
Israel has 'em running scared, for once. Israel should kill the rest of Hamas leadership and then agree to a cease-fire.
/john
Even if he dies choking on a piece of bacon
I do hope we don't stand in their way.
That would be "cease-murder". Hope that helps.
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