A rchive Date
[ 17-06-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Palestine ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/03/29/54072-ap.html
Palestinian prime minister pushes for truce
Israeli official rejects idea of deal
Tue, June 17, 2003
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas tried to persuade militant groups to stop attacks against Israel - the key to putting into effect a U.S.-backed Mideast peace plan - after Egyptian mediators went home unsuccessful.
Abbas met late Monday with members of his own Fatah faction and hoped to meet leaders of the militant group Hamas and other factions Tuesday, after top Egyptian officials left for Cairo failed to extract a pledge from Israel to stop targeting Hamas leaders for assassination.
Instead, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he would continue his offensive against Hamas.
The Hamas-Israel clash, which has included a suicide bombing in Jerusalem and helicopters strikes in Gaza over the past week, has caused dozens of casualties on both sides and endangered the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan.
Palestinians involved in the truce talks on Monday said Egypt would invite all the factions to Cairo. Previous rounds there have not produced results.
In another development, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat called the wife of imprisoned West Bank leader Marwan Barghouti early Tuesday, and told her Israel would release Barghouti in the next two days. Barghouti is on trial for murder, charged with complicity in attacks that killed 26 Israelis.
Israeli officials refused to comment on the report, and there has been no hint that Israel would free Barghouti during his trial.
Abbas' task was daunting. Not only did he face the recalcitrant Hamas, but the military wing of his own Fatah faction as well defied his call to halt attacks against Israelis.
After Monday's session with the Egyptian mediators, top Hamas official Ismail Abu Shanab said it was premature to talk about a ceasefire.
"Now is not a time for truce. It is time for solidarity and standing united against Israeli attacks on our people," he said.
A source close to the talks said U.S. mediators would press Israel to end the targeted killings, and that if it succeeded, the militant groups would then agree to a truce.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Egyptians were asking for a written American guarantee of Israel's commitment on this issue, and on troop withdrawals and other steps implementing the road map.
Israeli officials insisted that they would continue targeting the militants and rejected the idea of a ceasefire that did not include a dismantling of the militias, as called for in the road map.
Speaking to the Israeli parliament, Sharon did not mention the ceasefire effort in Gaza, declaring that his government would "pursue and catch every initiator of terrorism and its perpetrators in every place and at every time until victory."
He charged that Hamas had unleashed a "new wave of terror," noting Wednesday's suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus that killed 17 people, and said Israel would continue targeting terrorists.
He noted the recent helicopter strikes also killed Palestinian civilians, but said, "This was not our intention."
Referring to U.S. President George W. Bush's call for a global cutoff of funds to Hamas, Sharon said, "Because of our position, the voices against Hamas in the world are increasing, and there are calls to increase pressure on this murderous group. This is what we have done, and we will continue to do it."
Sharon repeated his vague offer of "painful concessions" for peace, but added he will "not give anything as long as terror, violence and incitement continue."
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told legislators that a ceasefire could not be an end in itself, but "rather a real step to ultimately eliminating the terrorist organizations."
Israel opposes a temporary ceasefire, fearing that it would be used by the violent groups to regroup, rearm and plan new attacks.
During more than 32 months of violence, 2,400 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 801 on the Israeli side. Both sides' economies have been badly hurt, and a poisonous hatred divides two peoples that only a few years ago seemed on the brink of a peace settlement.
The "road map" - authored by the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia - is a three-stage plan that begins with a halt to all violence and is to lead to a Palestinian state by 2005.
Sharon and Abbas both accepted the road map at the June 4 summit in Jordan with Bush, though Israel expressed numerous reservations.
Among other actions, the Palestinians are required to end violence against Israel, and Israel is to end settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza - areas the Palestinians want for their state.
On Monday, senior U.S. envoy John Wolf met with Shalom in Jerusalem and was due to see Palestinian officials on Tuesday.
Wolf heads a team of monitors who are supposed to determine the level of compliance by both sides to the terms of the peace plan and recommend moving from one stage to the next.
In Washington on Monday, Sharon's chief-of-staff, Dov Weisglass, met with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, Bush's assistant for national security, to prepare for a potential round of talks next weekend in the Middle East.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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