Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave a conditional and
limited approval for Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to meet
with senior Palestinian officials and discuss how to bring
about a cessation of hostilities. Peres has insisted that
negotiations are a priority; Sharon has merely proclaimed
that there can be no negotiations without a cessation of
violence.
Sunday's bombing in Kiryat Motzkin made it unlikely that any
such meetings between Peres and Palestinian officials will
take place in the near future. But the attack, which wounded
15, did not affect Sharon's intention to permit the meetings
to take place if there is a change in Palestinian behavior,
a source in the Prime Minister's Office said.
Sharon told Peres in a two-hour session Sunday that he could
hold such meetings once the Palestinians take "some
identifiable steps" to fight terror and Israel sees a
noticeable reduction in Palestinian attacks, sources said.
Peres's contacts are to be confined to a cease-fire; he is
to be accompanied by a senior military official with the
rank of major-general; and no meetings with Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat himself are allowed.
Officials in both Sharon's and Peres's offices declined to
comment on the record about the meeting.
Peres insisted that, while no final agreement on the
constructs of such meetings had been secured, he is pleased
with the results of his conversation with Sharon. Sources
close to Peres and Sharon said the two would meet again, but
no date was set.
Sharon's decision seemed designed in part to keep his
coalition intact and to placate Peres, who opposed Sharon's
decision to take control of Orient House in response to last
Thursday's suicide bombing in Jerusalem, and wants to keep
talking to the Palestinians before a full cessation of fire
by the Palestinians.
Coupled with his decision to reassert Israeli sovereignty
over Jerusalem, it also seemed, however, to suggest a two-
pronged strategy on Sharon's part to persuade Arafat to do
more to fight terror. Israel will strike at the PA both
politically and militarily, while at the same time leaving
open a conduit for limited communication.
The Sharon-Peres meeting came after a stormy cabinet meeting
on Sunday morning in which ministers split over the
government's decision to seize Orient House and other
Palestinian buildings in Jerusalem.
At the meeting, Sharon emphasized the importance of
preserving the national-unity government, and said the
seizures in Jerusalem were designed to halt illegal PA
activity in the capital. He said he also hopes the move will
show Arafat that he stands to lose political assets if he
does not crack down on terror.
Sharon told the ministers that the PLO had violated various
diplomatic agreements in which it committed itself to
restricting PA activities to the areas that had been handed
over to its control. The Orient House is supposed to be only
for PLO activities and not PA activities, but it had been
used for the latter. He also said that the sites had been
used to prepare for violent attacks.
"In the places that the security forces took control of
Friday morning, weapons, explosive material, and bombs were
found. This period has ended; what was, will not recur,"
Sharon said.
Minister of Arab Affairs Salah Tarif briefed the cabinet on
a phone call he received from Palestinian Chief of
Preventive Security Jibril Rajoub, in which Rajoub warned
that the seizure of Orient House would harm Israel's
security interests and "is likely to inflame the entire
Middle East," according to a statement issued by Tarif.
The takeover of flagship Palestinian buildings in the
eastern part of Jerusalem sparked deep concern, particularly
among the US officials. In separate meetings Sunday with
Sharon and Peres, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
David Satterfield expressed Washington's fears that the
moves might hamper efforts to foster a resumption of
negotiations.
Peres tried to quell American fears by telling Satterfield
Israel has no intention of confiscating the land on which
Orient House sits and that Abu Dis will maintain its current
status as "Area B" -- under Israeli military control and
Palestinian civilian control.
Peres added that Israel is committed to easing certain
restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip.
