Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that the road map
for Palestinian statehood will not move ahead until the
Palestinians carry out their pledge to dismantle terrorist
groups. The message at the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday
was reinforced by Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who said
the peace process was on hold and the current security
situation in Palestinian areas had become "virtually
intolerable."
Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon gave the
cabinet a detailed briefing on the security situation in the
West Bank and Gaza Strip, saying there are on average four
terror attacks a day even now. These attacks include
shootings, missile firings and roadside bombs.
Ya'alon said the cease-fire is an internal Palestinian affair
to which Israel is not a party, and that with or without it
the PA must dismantle the terror organizations. The IDF is
preparing for the possibility the cease-fire will fall apart
and massive terror will return.
At the same time, he said, it is clear Palestinian society,
benefiting from the relative quiet no less than Israeli
society, is currently not in favor of an end to the cease-
fire and a return to terror. Israeli officials believe Hamas
is very well aware of the desires of the "Palestinian
street," and that Palestinian fatigue from three years of
fighting was an important consideration in the Hamas
agreement to the temporary cease-fire.
Some 22,000 Palestinians now have permits to work in Israel.
Palestinian fishing rights off of Gaza have been widened.
Some 800 trucks a day pass through the Karni checkpoint,
Ya'alon said. All of this, he said, is whetting the appetite
for more quiet, which will lead to a greater improvement in
day-to-day life.
Ya'alon also noted that the terror organizations are using
the respite to regroup. Friday's raid in Nablus, he said, was
to prevent the manufacturing of Kassam rockets in the West
Bank. With only one or two exceptions, Kassam rockets have
been launched only from Gaza.
Arms smuggling from Egypt through tunnels into Rafah is
continuing and the IDF has discovered that some of these
tunnels begin in Egyptian police and army outposts. Ya'alon
said he does not believe Egypt is officially helping the
smuggling of arms, but rather that individual Egyptian
soldiers and police officers have been bribed.
Palestinian legislator Saeb Erekat said Israel, not the
Palestinians, was failing to live up to its commitments under
the "road map."
"In accordance with the road map, what should be dismantled
is the Israeli occupation and the Israeli settlements,"
Erekat told The Associated Press.
The plan, launched at a June 4 summit between President Bush,
Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, is a
three-stage program. In the first phase the Palestinians are
to dismantle "terrorist capabilities and infrastructure
(including) confiscation of illegal weapons." Israel commits
to "immediately dismantle" about 100 settlement outposts,
established in Judea and Samaria since 2001, to take "all
necessary steps to help normalize Palestinian life" and to
withdraw progressively from Palestinian autonomous zones
occupied since fighting between the two sides erupted in
September 2000.
About a dozen outposts have been taken down. Israel also
removed a few key checkpoints. Israel has pulled troops out
of parts of Gaza and Bethlehem.
Abbas and his government have made clear terror attacks
should stop, but so far few weapons have been taken. The
Palestinians argue that as long as the militants are not
attacking Israelis, they should be given time to disarm them
by persuasion.
Tensions in the North
At the same time, tensions rose in the north of Israel, as
Hizbullah cross-border fire killed 16-year-old Haviv Dadon
and lightly wounded five other Israelis in the town of
Shlomi. Israeli warplanes attacked Hizbullah positions in
southern Lebanon, including a pinpoint strike at the position
that caused the death.
Israel responded to Hizbullah provocations along the northern
border in a rational and measured way so as not to inflame
the situation as far as possible.
Foreign Ministry officials said that Israel views Lebanon,
Syria, and Iran, which support Hizbullah, as responsible for
the deterioration of the situation in the North.
"Not only do Syria and Iran not fight terrorism," one Foreign
Ministry spokesman said, "but they encourage terrorism on the
northern border and in the territories in order to torpedo
any chance to reach peace."
According to this logic, Syria and Iran which for different
reasons are not happy with the road map are looking to
provoke Israel into a retaliatory action that would enrage
the Arab world and force the Palestinians to abandon it.
Referring to Syria, the official said it is "absurd that a
country on the list of terrorism-sponsoring nations, and
which supports terrorism, is now the head of the UN Security
Council, whose job is to work for peace in the world."
He added that while Israel has fulfilled its obligations to
withdraw from Lebanon, the Lebanese government did not
fulfill its obligations to deploy its troops in the south,
thereby allowing Hizbullah free reign there.
In a message sent to the Syrians via the US and the UN,
Israel clarified its position: Israel will strike Syrian
targets in Lebanon if attacked by Hizbullah.
Sharon is under domestic pressure as he and his family are
being investigated on various charges of corruption. Though
the official response in such situations is to drag out the
investigation for years (for example, former prime minister
Ehud Barak is still under investigation for illegal campaign
finance activities in the 1999 elections), Attorney General
Rubinstein has pledged to conclude the Sharon investigations
before be leaves office in less than six months.
