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Israelis, Palestinians wrangle on implementing truce

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November 8, 2000 

JERUSALEM (AP) - The Palestinians and Israel traded charges about violations of their latest truce as violence persisted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the warring sides' leaders prepared for separate meetings with U.S. President Bill Clinton.

The Palestinian Cabinet, in a statement late Monday, said its demand was clear - "an end to Israeli occupation and attacks."

It also asked for economic assistance from the Arab nations, including new jobs for workers idled by the violence, and foreign help in rebuilding damaged houses.

The cease-fire agreement, in its fifth day Monday, has dampened the overall level of unrest but has not stopped it. Two Palestinian teen-agers were killed in clashes on Monday, another was blinded by gunfire and dozens of Arabs were injured. In what has become a pattern, heavy firefights were reported after dark.

Late at night, a fishing boat loaded with explosives blew up next to an Israeli Dabour missile boat off the coast of Gaza, according to the military. The missile boat was not damaged and no Israelis were injured, a statement said.

The truce was agreed on in a late-night meeting last Wednesday between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Cabinet minister Shimon Peres.

In the annexed Golan Heights, a Palestinian sympathizer who infiltrated from Syria was captured following a long manhunt that involved helicopters, tanks and troops, the army said. He was armed with two knives.

The Palestinian airport in Gaza is to open again Tuesday. The Israeli military gave permission for flights to take off and land as a "confidence-building measure," a statement said, to allow humanitarian assistance. Israel closed the airport shortly after the riots began Sept. 28 when a bus carrying Israeli workers was fired on from the area.

The rhetoric, meanwhile, was still running hot.

As Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Arafat prepared to head to Washington, they remained sharply at odds on how to stop the violence and revive suspended peace talks.

Barak, whose government easily survived four no-confidence motions on Monday, said he noticed a "certain effort by Chairman Arafat to calm down the situation, but clearly the results show that there is no real reduction in the violence."

The truce is "not being implemented by the other side ... and we are being forced to act accordingly," Barak said.

Since the truce was reached, 13 people have died - a decline from earlier levels, but hardly the calm that had been hoped for. Overall, the violence has claimed more than 170 lives, the vast majority Palestinians.

The Palestinians accuse Israel of violating the truce. The Palestinian Cabinet statement said the Clinton-Arafat meeting would be devoted to "finding a way out of the dangerous situation that the peace process has reached after the Israeli government's rejection" of peace initiatives and cease-fire deals.

Despite the disagreements, the head of Israel's Shin Bet security agency, Avi Dichter, held secret meetings in Cairo over the weekend with two top Palestinian security officials, Jibril Rajoub and Muhammad Dahlan, to discuss ways of preventing attacks within Israel, Israeli reports said.

Israel views the meeting as signifying that security cooperation with the Palestinian side is getting back on track, but wants to see whether the Palestinian side would indeed prevent attacks by the radical Muslim groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Israel radio said.

On Thursday a car bomb killed two Israelis in Jerusalem. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

The Palestinians are seeking an international peacekeeping force in their areas and say the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and China must be included in future peace talks to balance the U.S. mediation which the Palestinians consider biased in Israel's favor.

"Since the United States has failed to persuade Israel to implement the agreements, there is a need for other parties to be involved in this process," Arafat aide Nabil Aburdeneh said.

Israel has adamantly rejected any international peacekeeping force, and also wants its leading ally, the United States, to keep its role as the main mediator.

Arafat is to meet Clinton in Washington on Thursday, and Barak is to hold talks with the president Sunday. With peace negotiations for a political settlement on hold, the leaders appear focused on the more immediate goal of ending the bloodshed.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said Arafat raised the possibility of holding a three-way meeting with Clinton and Barak. But Israel would consider a summit only after the violence has stopped, he said.

Also Monday, a senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians would not declare statehood at a Nov. 15 meeting of their Central Council.

The day marks the 12th anniversary of Arafat's symbolic statehood declaration, and there has been speculation the Palestinians would act on the anniversary. A unilateral declaration of statehood would be sure to bring a harsh response from Israel, including annexation of parts of the West Bank.

"It's not our intention to declare a state in the coming Central Council session, there were no plans to do so," said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.