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26 Tishrei 5763 - October 2, 2002 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
In Moscow, Sharon says Terror will End "In Months"
by Yated Ne'eman Staff and M Plaut

Israel will end the current wave of Palestinian terrorism "within a number of months," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Jewish organizational leaders in Moscow last Monday, a day after lifting the siege around Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Mukata compound in Ramallah under American pressure.

Once the terror has ended, Sharon said, "we will move the diplomatic process forward." He did not say how he would end terrorism or in which ways he would move the diplomatic process forward.

As vague and opaque as it was, the statement does provide significant insight into Sharon's expectations for the coming months, and his plans for the next election, which must be held no later than about a year from now.

The prime minister apparently believes that the pressure applied by the Israeli armed forces and security services are having an effect, and that this will prove decisive in the intermediate future. It is unlikely that Sharon is assuming any diplomatic breakthrough. Also, if the terror does end in the coming months, it will make Sharon very strong in the upcoming elections -- probably unbeatable both within the Likud and in the general elections. The rightward shift in the Israeli electorate makes it likely that Sharon's party will also emerge as very strong.

Sharon has recently come under a barrage of criticism for his handling of the Mukata affair. After a homicide bomb in Tel Aviv on Succos, Israeli forces surrounded Arafat's compound in Ramallah (known as the Mukata), and destroyed all of it except for one building that sheltered about 200 including 19 terrorists that Israel wants to arrest and try. Israel said that it would not lift the siege until it had the wanted terrorists, but after about a week and a half it was forced by American pressure to withdraw.

Arafat emerged claiming victory. Israeli spokesmen acknowledged that they bowed to American pressure.

Arafat got a few hours of favorable press coverage, but his buildings were destroyed. His success was not due to his own efforts and it seems likely that in a few days his situation will be no better than it was before the siege. Curfews and restrictions imposed by the IDF remain in force in Ramallah as well as elsewhere in the PA areas.

On chol hamoed shots were fired from Beit Jallah at Gilo. However the IDF decided not to retaliate when they observed residents of Beit Jallah beating the gunmen and chasing them away.

A senior Israeli diplomatic source quoted in the Jerusalem Post hinted that the wanted men who were in the Mukata will be targeted if they leave the compound. The source said critics of the siege should wait a few weeks before passing judgment on its wisdom. He said critics should keep in mind that the action came in response to a terror attack in Tel Aviv that left five people dead. "We have the right to respond," he said.

According to this source, the US asked Israel to lift the siege not because it does not recognize Israel's right to self-defense but because right now -- with the attack on Iraq pending and the US demanding Iraq abide by UN Security Council resolutions -- it created "problems."

"The US explained that this action at this time and in that place caused difficulties for an action that both the US and Israel deem as very important," he said.

Another Israeli source said that when the cameras inevitably turn elsewhere, Arafat will wake up to see that his compound - - largely destroyed by IDF bulldozers -- has ceased to become a refuge for wanted terrorists, and that the boost to his status was only temporary.

Construction and Housing Minister Natan Sharansky said the government had failed to take into account how the US would react to the operation as a possible hindrance to its plans to attack Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Education Minister Limor Livnat said that it "took courage" to accede to the US pressure to end the operation. She noted that apparently both the cabinet and security officials had misjudged the situation. At the same time, she said she never heard any security official express reservations about the operation before it was initiated.

Palestinian legislators were busy organizing a new PLC session to renew the drive for reform. Fatah legislator Nabi Amr met with Speaker Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) to discuss convening the PLC to renew the debate about reform and call upon Arafat to appoint a new cabinet and add a prime minister. The cabinet officially resigned a month ago after legislators threatened to vote against it. This is the process that had put Arafat under unexpected pressure when it was halted by the Israeli siege. It seems likely to continue where it left off.

Arafat was supposed to present his new government on October 3, but that session will be postponed to give him time to recover from the siege, an aide to Qurei said.

Other legislators said reforms cannot be delayed. Several legislators from Fatah said people went out of their way to break the curfews and demonstrate for Arafat, but now he needs to give something back to the people.

 

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