CIA Director George Tenet arrived in the region Sunday morning. Tenet was dispatched by US President George W. Bush with a mandate to streamline the 12 different PA security bodies into three or four, under one unified command.
Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, William Burns, already in the region, met Sunday morning with Israel's Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. (Read photo caption)


During the meeting, Ben Eliezer warned that the situation in the region is far more dangerous than it appears adding that there were constant warnings of attacks and painful Palestinian bombing attacks do occur from time to time. Ben Eliezer views came in a statement released by his ministry after the meeting.

The statement added that Tanzim and Fatah have been active in what it calls the terrorist camp, and that Arafat was doing nothing to stop the bombers.

Additionally, Ben Eliezer asked Burns to ensure "the United States is acting clearly and in coordination with the Europeans and moderate Arab countries to have Arafat stop the policy of terrorism and violence." "The only way to prevent the deterioration of the situation in the region is to mercilessly multiply pressure from all quarters," he added.

PHOTO CAPTION

Two months after launching a West Bank offensive with the declared goal of rooting out Palestinian bombers, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told Reuters on May 22, 2002, Israel would never be able to put a complete stop to such attacks until it held peace talks with the Palestinians. Photo by Havakuk Levison/Reuters
- May 22 7:53 PM