Setting a new condition to the long waited meeting with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres demanded Friday that the president order an end to “terror attacks” before truce talks can be held, according to Haaretz and agencies, quoting a Peres aide.
Peres' decision threw into doubt the long-awaited meeting, tentatively set for Sunday.
Israel charges that Arafat has not taken steps to rein in Palestinian Intifada activists, and that some members of his security forces take part in attacks against Israelis.
Palestinians charge that Israel is responsible for the violence because of its continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and its restrictions on Palestinians. Arafat has denounced suicide-bombing attacks in Israel.
The meeting, aimed at working out a truce to end nearly a year of Palestinian-Israeli violence, was to take place Sunday at Gaza International Airport.
Dori said Peres talked to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer on Friday and repeated his demand that Arafat order an end to violence before the meeting, said the report.
The Palestinians have also set conditions. Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said Peres must have a full mandate from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to discuss all issues. Sharon, who has banned negotiations while the violence continues, is limiting the talks only to arranging a cease-fire.
Several government ministers urged Sharon to call off the Peres-Arafat meeting, likening it to Powell meeting with Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in Tuesday's terror attacks in Washington and New York.
"He really has a choice between being a bin Laden or being a partner for peace," government spokesman Ra'anan Gissin on Thursday quoted Sharon as telling Powell by telephone the day before.
"You have bin Laden who is the threat and we have Arafat who is constantly, constantly using terror. He adopted a strategy of terror, he has a coalition of terror."
But Powell had on Wednesday urged the world not to lose sight of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East even as the international community reeled in the wake of devastating terrorist attacks in the United States.
Powell said he had spoken with Sharon, Arafat and Peres (twice) on the day in part to tell them how important the long-delayed high-level meeting between the two sides would be.
"In this time of tragedy, in this time of heightened tension throughout the world and especially throughout that region, let's seize this opportunity to see if we cannot start this process of meetings," Powell was quoted by AFP as telling reporters.
"Even while we are dealing with this situation, this crisis that is here in Washington and New York, we are also working on the Middle East situation and seeing if we can get that jump-started," he said.
According to Haaretz, Israel has sent severe warnings to the Palestinian Authority in the wake of the terror attack in the United States. Peres and other Israeli officials have spoken with top PA officials, emphasizing that this is a critical moment in history when the PA can choose to “end all the terrorism, immediately.” If it does not, Israeli officials warned, the PA would be in a far worse position.
Arafat canceled his much-anticipated reconciliation trip to Damascus on Wednesday. This was a signal that Arafat understood the severity of his situation, sources in Jerusalem were quoted as saying.
A senior diplomatic source close to Sharon explained that the terror strikes in the US had given Israel a much greater degree of freedom when it came to the use of political and military pressure on the PA.
Politically, the source said, Israel believed that U.S. backing for Israel's principle of no negotiations under fire was likely to be much firmer, indeed absolute. Militarily, said the source, "we are operating in the Jenin area and nobody's complaining."
The Israeli military operation in Jenin, where it killed a number of Palestinians, has been on the go in the West Bank city, say Palestinians – Albawaba.com
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