A senior Israeli official on Monday ruled out truce talks between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres "in the present circumstances," following the killing of an Israeli woman in the Jordan Valley.
"No decision has been taken but it is difficult to imagine that the prime minister (Ariel Sharon) would give the green light in the present circumstances," the official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
The official, close to the prime minister's office, recalled Sharon's demand that there be 48 hours of absolute calm before he would allow Peres to meet with Arafat.
He said the killing of the 24-year-old Israeli woman earlier in the day in the Jordan Valley in the West Bank was "apparently carried out by the Tanzim," as Israel calls the armed wing of the Fateh movement.
But the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, Al Quds Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack, in a statement faxed to Albawaba.com in Amman.
The group said that the operation was in response to “the occupation crimes against our people,” stressing that Jihad and resistance were the only option to regain our lands and rights.”
According to Haaretz newspaper, the killing placed in doubt truce talks between Peres and Arafat, and threatened to reignite the most serious coalition crisis since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon forged a unity government with the Labor Party after winning a February election.
The woman was a 24-year-old resident of northern Israel, who was earlier reported to be a Jewish settler. Her husband, who was also in the car, was uninjured, but was said to be suffering from shock, said the paper, quoting Israel’s army radio.
The paper reported earlier in the day that an agreement was reached late Sunday between Defense Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer, Sharon and Peres that if the quiet lasted until Monday evening, the meeting between Peres and Arafat would take place.
Although he cancelled the Sunday meeting, Sharon made positive remarks regarding the Palestinians in a public appearance Sunday evening, said the paper.
"Israel wants to give the Palestinians what no one before gave them: The possibility to establish a state," Sharon told a gathering of teachers in Jerusalem. "The Turks, British, Egyptians and Jordanians did not give them such a possibility. All that Israel requests is the obligation to stop the terror," he added.
Sharon has demanded a 48-hour period of absolute calm before any Peres-Arafat truce talks take place.
The prime minister is under strong pressure from the United States to approve the talks, in order to facilitate American coalition-building ahead of expected attacks on Afghanistan and other targets in the wake of the Twin Towers and Pentagon terror strikes.
The latest Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation began last September - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
