gelatik
10.03.02, 04:05
JERUSALEM (March 10) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged Friday night to
negotiate under fire in an effort to end over 17 months of Palestinian
violence, but warned the Palestinian Authority that this new policy will not
prevent Israel from responding with full force to terror attacks.
The Prime Minister's Office said last night's attacks in Netanya and Jerusalem
are further proof that the Palestinians are doing nothing to stop terror.
Sharon told US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday that he is willing to
give up his demand for seven days of quiet and begin talks on implementing the
Tenet plan. He said that he would handle the negotiations himself, in
coordination with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin
Ben-Eliezer.
"Negotiations to stop the shooting will be held under fire," Sharon told
Channel 2. "These are negotiations to achieve a cease-fire." Sharon said that
the ball is now in the Palestinians' court and it would become clear in the
coming days whether PA Chairman Yasser Arafat is prepared to halt terror. The
Prime Minister's Office said the Netanya and Jerusalem attacks indicate that
Arafat intends to continue the conflict.
"We expressed our willingness to negotiate under fire in order to end the fire,
but if they want fire, they will get more fire than they can tolerate," an
official in Sharon's office said. "The new policy does not mean that we will
stop our operations to bring about the collapse of the terrorist
infrastructure. The option is in their hands. If they do not do what they have
to do to fight terror, then we will have to fight terror in our own way."
Peres called Powell and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to update them
about last night's attacks.
"Everything must be done in order to end the fire and bloodshed," Peres told
his American and British counterparts.
"There is not much time. We must talk about a cease-fire and everything that
comes with it."
Peres had pressured Sharon to agree to negotiate a cease-fire. Although Sharon
used the words "negotiate under fire" in order to indicate his seriousness
about his willingness to talk with the Palestinians, he has said all along that
negotiating to end the violence does not constitute a violation of his oft-
repeated campaign pledge not to negotiate under fire.
Prior to last night's terrorist attacks in Netanya and Jerusalem, Prime
Minister's Office officials said the cabinet may discuss permitting Arafat to
leave Ramallah today, in response to the arrest of the final terrorist involved
in the murder of tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi.
Arafat's release after three months of being restricted to Ramallah would be
another goodwill gesture ahead of the arrival of US Vice President Dick Cheney
and State Department envoy Anthony Zinni.
Zinni's previous visits to the region were accompanied by a wave of intensified
Palestinian terror, culminating with the capture of the Karine A arms ship.
Declaring the IDF attacks in Area A over the weekend "Black Friday,"
Palestinian schools, institutions, and shops were closed yesterday to mark a
day of strikes called for by the Palestinian Authority to protest against
Israel's raids on Palestinian refugee camps, in which over 100 Palestinians
have been killed in the past week.
The Palestinian Authority also once again called upon the UN Security Council
to provide "urgent protection for the Palestinian people."
"The Palestinian leadership has approached the Security Council, demanding an
immediate and decisive position that would provide the Palestinian people with
the urgently needed protection from this ongoing mass murder. We have also
called on the Arab world to take decisive measures and clear positions to put
an end to these crimes that shall only widen the scope of the conflict,"
Palestinian Minister for Information and Culture Yasser Abbed Rabbo said in a
press release.
He condemned the American silence and demanded that Zinni, who is expected to
come to the region in the middle of the week, to first of all stop the Israeli
military campaign.
