Israel has played down stinging US criticism of its invasion of six West Bank towns, with its defense minister describing a US demand for withdrawal as “out of line.” Both Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres insist that the re-occupation will go on until the assassins of a cabinet minister are arrested.
Defense Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer said Tuesday that the US demand was "out of line," according to the Tel Aviv-based Haaretz newspaper.
"In the meantime, we hold in high regard and appreciate the United States," said the minister during a tour in the north. "We have a common strategy. But the things that came out of there, with all due respect, are out of line."
The minister from the hawkish wing of the Labor Party emphasized that Israel had no intention of remaining in areas ostensibly under Palestinian Authority control, said the paper.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his left-leaning Foreign Minister Shimon Peres insist their troops will withdraw once the assassins of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi have been extradited.
Israel blames Arafat for "forcing" it into the invasions.
Foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said that by failing to extradite the killers, Arafat "is literally forcing us to take the necessary steps to defend ourselves. We are exercising our duty of self-defense."
"If there is an obstacle to the coalition against terrorism, then the responsibility sits squarely with Arafat," he told AFP.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials accused Israel of staging yet another incursion into a refugee camp near the Egyptian border in the Gaza Strip. A supermarket was among 12 shops and six houses destroyed.
The Israeli army disputed the report, saying it had razed houses used by Palestinian snipers in an area already under Israeli control.
Israeli forces swept into major Palestinian towns last week with tanks and troops to force Arafat to hand over the suspects.
The massive invasions sparked gunbattles on the streets, which have left around 30 Palestinians dead and several Israeli soldiers wounded since October 18.
The re-occupations reignited massive tensions in the region and sank US efforts to calm the 13-month-old crisis and allow Washington to wage its anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan with solid Arab backing.
Various Palestinian resistance groups, meanwhile, have told the press that their uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation will continue.
US BLASTS ISRAELI KILLING OF CIVILIANS
The United States late Monday delivered one of its sternest rebukes yet to the Jewish state, telling its ally to get out of Palestinian areas and stay out.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker condemned "Israeli defense force actions that have killed numerous Palestinian civilians over the weekend.”
"Israeli defense forces should be withdrawn immediately from all Palestinian-controlled areas and no further such incursions should be made," he added.
Reeker termed as "unacceptable" the deaths of "innocent civilians" and said the Israeli incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas have "contributed to a significant escalation in tension and violence."
DISPUTE OVER SUSPECTED ASSASSINS SPARKS FIGHTING
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said it killed Zeevi in retaliation for Israel's assassination of its leader, Abu Ali Mustapha, two months ago.
Israeli has accused the PFLP's new leader Ahmad Sadat of masterminding the minister's killing.
Arafat's administration has arrested more than 30 PFLP members but refuses to hand them over to Israel. It has also outlawed the PFLP's armed wing, a move decried by several Palestinian groups as a blow to their fight against Israeli occupation.
Israel on Monday stepped up its assassination policy against Palestinian suspects, killing a senior member of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas in an explosion in Nablus.
It accused Ayman Halawa of organizing suicide bombings which killed 49 people and wounded almost 300.
Israeli tanks also demolished the Qalqilya family house of Hamas' deadliest suicide bomber, who killed 23 young people near a Tel Aviv nightclub on June 1.
Palestinians also said Israeli special forces disguised as Palestinians had seized an activist of the radical Islamic Jihad group outside his home in a Palestinian-controlled area near Hebron in the West Bank.
In a statement faxed to Albawaba.com, Islamic Jihad said that Youssef Salama Tbeish was arrested while heading to a school where he teaches in Dora, near Hebron.
The Islamic Jihad said Tbeish resisted, but that his assailants fired at him, and were able finally to push him into a car and drive off to an unknown destination.
Tbeish is not on Israel's "wanted" list, according to his group.
Meanwhile, the PA called on the United States to intervene to force Israel to withdraw its troops and tanks from the Occupied Territories.
In a meeting with US Consul General in Jerusalem Ronald Schlicher, who went to Gaza to deliver what Palestinian officials called "an important message" from Bush, Arafat called for the US president's help in getting Israel to end its current incursions.
The meeting with Schlicher was also attended by other key international diplomats, including UN Special Envoy Terje Larsen, EU Middle East Envoy Miguel Moratinos and Russian Middle East Envoy Andrei Vadobin. Schlicher and Larsen both called on Arafat to immediately "take strong action against terror and strengthen the ceasefire," according to Haaretz – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
