The head of Israel's foreign intelligence service – the Mossad - secretly met with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director George Tenet last week in Washington.
According to report in the Israeli daily Yedioth Aharonoth on Sunday, Tenet met with Mossad head Efraim Halevy to review the planned reforms of the Palestinian Authority, in particular the reorganization of its 12 security services under the umbrella of three organizations which will be directly answerable to the political leadership.
Israel has always opposed the United States giving any military aid to the Palestinian security services, the Israeli newspaper wrote.
The report also said that Washington sent a message to the Israeli leadership pressing them for guarantees that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be able to return to the West Bank and Gaza after an eventual trip overseas.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Chief of General Staff, Lt.-Gen. Shalom Mofaz said Sunday "As long as Arafat is the leader responsible for reform, then there will not be a reform. He will crush it." Mofaz made these comments in a meeting with military reporters in Tel Aviv.
Mofaz said Arafat's control, or lack of it, is causing the PA proposed reforms to remain stagnant. Mofaz admitted that "If there would be other leadership then I give it (reform) a chance." (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
