Israeli helicopters attacked early Monday Jebalya refugee camp in Gaza Strip. Occupation army said this assault was targeting a local mortar workshop in response to mortar fire on nearby Jewish settlements.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the United States dismissed a peace call by Yasser Arafat in the US press. "We know very well who (Arafat) is, one of our successes has been to expose his real face to the world, and these remarks change nothing, even if the tone seems more conciliatory," Sharon told Israeli television.
He said that Arafat, writing in Sunday's edition of the New York Times, had stuck to demands which Israel deems unacceptable, such as the right of return of Palestinian refugees who fled Israel when it was created in 1948 and proclaiming the disputed city Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
Arafat had, however, hinted for the first time he was questioning the official Palestinian line on the right of millions of refugees to return, which Israel has constantly refused, fearing a flood of Palestinians would disrupt the specifically Jewish nature of the state.
"We Palestinians must be realistic with respect to Israel's demographic desires," Arafat said. But he added that Israel cannot ignore the "legitimate rights of these innocent civilians."
According to AFP, Sharon said he had not changed his view of Arafat. "Arafat remains irrelevant since he is at the head of a coalition of terrorism," the right-wing prime minister said.
However, Arafat's article also received a cold response from Washington. "This is not helpful. What Chairman Arafat needs to do is to deal with the terrorists in his midst," US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said. "We don't believe that we're seeing 100 percent effort."
The Tel Aviv-based Haaretz daily reported on Monday that at his meeting last week with senior Palestinian Authority officials, Sharon presented them with his proposals for a long-term interim settlement. During this period, according to Sharon, the sides would evaluate their relations in preparation for discussions on a permanent resolution to the conflict.
Sharon suggests first achieving a cease-fire, which would not be bound by a time schedule, but rather by a "table of expectation" that would impose tasks on both sides.
Abu Mazen, PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's deputy, voiced opposition to any interim accord that was not part of a permanent settlement and demanded that the principles of such a final arrangement be formulated first. However, statements made by the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Abu Ala, seemed to suggest that he did not rule out the idea of an interim agreement.
After the meeting, Sharon and the PA officials agreed to institutionalize their talks and conduct such discussions once every two or three weeks. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
