Palestinian Plan to Quell Extremists Is Reported

The Palestinian Authority, pressed last week by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to crack down on Islamic militants, is drafting a plan aimed at destroying the infrastructure of the extremist groups, Israeli and U.S. officials said Sunday.

The officials cautioned that the commitment, conveyed in weekend meetings between Palestinian security chiefs and CIA representatives, is still only a statement of intent. But they said it includes a program to break the infrastructure of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and a pledge to allow U.S. officials to monitor what Israel terms a revolving door for Islamic militants jailed by the Palestinians.

Palestinian officials declined to comment on specifics of the meetings Friday and Saturday. But the commitment, if carried out, would represent a significant achievement for Albright, who ended a three-day visit here last week expressing disappointment that her trip had not produced more progress toward reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Late Sunday, Israel acknowledged the new cooperation with an announcement that it will release part of the funds it has withheld from the Palestinian Authority since twin suicide bombings July 30 in Jerusalem. Israeli officials characterized the decision to transfer millions of dollars in tax revenues collected by Israel but owed to the Palestinian Authority as a goodwill gesture.

The Israeli army, meanwhile, announced that it would lift a ban that has kept Palestinians from traveling outside their cities and villages since another multiple suicide bombing in Jerusalem on Sept. 4. The internal travel restrictions are scheduled to be lifted early today, but a general closure that prevents Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip from entering Israel will remain in force.

“We understand from the Americans that the Palestinians are submitting a very complete program of intentions to fight the terrorist infrastructure,” said David Bar-Illan, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Bar-Illan said the Palestinians also agreed to allow U.S. officials to monitor their jails to see who is arrested or released. Israelis maintain that Palestinian authorities are releasing militants who should be in jail.

But Palestinian officials differed with Israel on the amount of tax revenues to be released today and said the Israeli actions fell far short of what is needed.

“They take the money from one pocket, keep it for a while, then give it back and call it a token of goodwill,” said Marwan Kanafani, an advisor to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. “It would be much more convincing if they gave it all back.”

Israeli officials said the money to be released today amounts to about $14 million of the $28 million in tax revenues that the Israelis still hold. But Palestinian Finance Minister Mohammed Zuhdi Nashashibi recently estimated the funds still owed at about $95 million, noting that the tax revenues have accumulated.

Israel made an initial payment of $12 million to the Palestinians in mid-August.

Under the Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements, Israel is obligated each month to collect taxes and fees on Palestinian goods and labor and then transfer the money into a bank account controlled by the Palestinian Authority. The revenues amount to nearly two-thirds of the Palestinian budget, and the U.S. and other nations have expressed concern about the Palestinians’ economic plight.

During her visit here, Albright sharply criticized Israel’s decision to continue withholding the money.

Her main priority, however, as she stated in news conferences, speeches and in lengthy meetings with Arafat, was to convince the Palestinian leader to crack down on the militant groups seeking to derail the peace process through attacks on Israel. Without concrete steps to destroy the groups’ infrastructure, Albright warned, little progress can be made on the political issues of greater importance to Palestinians, including the future of Jerusalem.

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On the heels of her visit, “we’re finally hearing the right kind of noises” from the Palestinians,” Bar-Illan said.

U.S. officials agreed. A senior U.S. diplomat said the working anti-terrorism plan discussed over the weekend is the most specific to date by the Palestinians, who argued previously that they already were doing everything possible to fight terrorism.

Still unclear Sunday was whether the reported disappearance of a top Hamas leader might be linked to the improved relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The military wing of Hamas issued a statement Friday accusing Israeli agents of kidnapping Ibrahim Makadmeh in the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip. Israel denied the accusation. Palestinian security officials said Sunday that they were not holding him.

The Hamas leader was released from a Palestinian jail in March and almost immediately called for more suicide attacks against Israel. Arafat ordered him rearrested, but he has been in hiding ever since.

The issue of battling the militant groups remained high on Albright’s agenda Sunday as she neared the end of her first tour of the Middle East as secretary of State.

In Abha, Saudi Arabia, she challenged the conservative Persian Gulf states to support Middle East peace by giving more money to the Palestinian Authority and by preventing their citizens from contributing funds to militants.

“The Arab states have a responsibility . . . to support the peace process and work against the enemies of peace,” Albright told foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

But even as Albright wrapped up her Middle East tour by meeting with Jordanian King Hussein in Jordan’s capital, Amman, on Sunday, violence flared on another Arab-Israeli front. Two Israeli soldiers were reported killed in an explosion in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia that is fighting Israel’s occupation of a 9-mile-deep strip of southern Lebanon, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Times staff writer Norman Kempster contributed to this report from Amman.

* TEAR-DOWNS ON THE RISE

In the West Bank and Jerusalem, Israel has stepped up demolition of illegal Arab homes. A10