Palestinians Must Crush Terrorism, Israel Says

Two days after a deadly suicide bombing, Israel demanded Sunday that the Palestinian Authority crack down on Islamic extremists who carry out such attacks, but it did not formally suspend political contacts with the Palestinians.

Israeli officials had indicated that the government might decide to halt political negotiations with the Palestinians, a move that could have put further strain on the tottering peace process and made reconciliation more difficult.

In the end, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and key government ministers opted for a relatively mild statement that called on the Palestinian leadership to fight terrorism as a “necessary step in advancing the political process.”

“I’m not suspending talks because our people are meeting with their people, but the first item on the agenda is the fulfillment of the Palestinian obligation to fight terrorism,” Netanyahu said in a CNN interview. “They have to start complying with that, or else we can’t move.”

But a top Palestinian negotiator said the statement made little difference because talks between Israel and the Palestinians are deadlocked.

“It seems [Netanyahu] closed all doors tonight,” said Saeb Erekat, a member of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s Cabinet. “But what we should realize is that he has made a difference for now between the peace and the process. He’s destroying the peace but wants to continue with the process.”

Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have accused Arafat of recently giving Islamic extremists an indirect “green light” to resume terror and violence against Israelis. Friday’s blast at a Tel Aviv cafe killed three Israelis and the Palestinian bomber, and security officials have warned of the possibility of further attacks.

Palestinian anger has risen over Israel’s decision to build a new Jewish neighborhood in disputed East Jerusalem. Throughout the West Bank, tensions remained high Sunday, but the clashes of recent days subsided. In Hebron, Palestinians threw stones and Israeli soldiers fired tear gas, but the incidents were relatively minor compared with the previous two days of street battles, which left scores of people hurt.

In the Kalandiyeh refugee camp north of Jerusalem, Israeli border police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse stone-throwing youths, but no injuries were reported.

In its statement Sunday, the government set no specific conditions for continuing the peace talks but demanded that the Palestinians fight terrorist groups “effectively and systematically,” confiscate illegal weapons and increase security cooperation with Israel.

“Everything must concentrate now on the issue of security and terrorism,” said David Bar-Illan, a Netanyahu spokesman.

But Erekat predicted that the items listed will become formal conditions for the implementation of unresolved aspects of the peace agreements between the two sides, including the first stage of an additional Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

The Palestinian official also reacted angrily to continuing Israeli charges that Arafat, perhaps implicitly, allowed Islamic extremists to believe that he supported a resumption of their violent activity. Arafat has rejected the accusation.

“Netanyahu knows very well that we in the Palestinian Authority do not accept the killing or harming of any Israeli and that we want to make peace with Israel,” Erekat said. “If he looks in the mirror, he will see who is killing the peace process.”

Israel’s chief of military intelligence charged Sunday that the Palestinians were making their cooperation in fighting terror conditional on a change in the political situation.

“We believe that so long as Arafat doesn’t make the organizations understand that there is no green light to strike, we can expect more attacks,” Maj. Gen. Moshe Yaalon told reporters.

Speaking at the same news conference, the Israeli army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, said that coordination between Israeli and Palestinian security officials had deteriorated in recent days but that meetings continued.

Shahak also said that some Palestinian officials had encouraged the Hebron rioting and that the unrest should have been stopped earlier by Palestinian police.

Late Sunday, Israel Radio reported that the Palestinians had appealed to Israeli President Ezer Weizman to intervene to help resolve the crisis. Weizman has often used his largely ceremonial post to try to influence political events, including meeting with Arab leaders on the peace process.