Israel's defense minister said on Monday he hoped to hold security talks with Palestinian officials in the next few days. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer's comment on Army Radio followed a decision by Israel on Sunday to ease some restrictions on Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.
"This week I expect to start security contacts with the Palestinian leadership," Ben-Eliezer said, suggesting talks could start with Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razzak al-Yahya or another official of similar rank on Monday or Tuesday. "I hope it will go well. Then it will be possible to say that we are starting in a direction which we might expect will bring stability in the area."
"The defense ministry is pushing for an easing of the security situation and to this end is planning security meetings at different levels, although the dates have yet to be fixed," spokesman for Ben Eliezer said Monday.
"The minister is keen to implement a pilot project to restore security in certain sectors, be they in the Gaza Strip or in less restive parts of Judaea and Samaria (the southern and northern West Bank). "In response to security measures taken by the Palestinians to restore calm to these sectors, Israel will take steps to relieve the pressure on their populations. "The security talks which the minister plans to hold with the Palestinians are aimed at implementing this pilot project," the spokesman said.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced that his country would adopt a series of new measures to improve life in the Palestinian areas after more than five weeks of curfews on more than 1 million Palestinians.
A statement from Sharon's bureau said he had ordered cutting the duration of curfews, increasing the number of work permits issued to Palestinian workers from 7,000 to 12,000, and dismantling some checkpoints in the Palestinian territories.
Israel Radio reported Monday that the army had already lifted a curfew "indefinitely" over the West Bank town of Qalqilyah, and that curfews had also been cancelled in Tulkarem and Hebron.
The prime minister's office, in announcing the relaxing of curbs on Palestinian civilians, also said that Foreign Minister Shimon Peres would be "responsible for coordinating all activities to assist the civilian population in the Palestinian Authority territories". "Minister Peres will ensure that the activities of all aid agencies are comprehensive, uninterrupted and as unimpaired as possible," the prime minister's office stated.
Additionally, Israel committed to transfer about US$15 million of frozen funds to the Palestinian National Authority in an apparent gesture to seek calm after last week’s deadly Gaza raid. Palestinian Finance Minister Sallam Fayad has already met with the director-general of the Israeli Finance Ministry, Ohad Marani, to finalize the transfer of the money, which is part of the estimated US$600 million in tax revenues Israel has withheld since September 2000.
Meanwhile, a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian finance ministers was cancelled without any immediate explanation.
For his part, top Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said that Israeli promises to ease restrictions on the Palestinians were just a media bluff. Erekat was speaking to visiting Reverend Jesse Jackson in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Erekat said that he did not take the promises to ease restrictions seriously. He appealed to Jackson for international assistance, telling him that half the Palestinian children were malnourished and that one third of Palestinian women were anemic. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
