Israeli Army Leaves Hebron Amid New Diplomatic Push

30/05/2002| IslamWeb

HIGHLIGHTS: 12 Palestinians Detained in Rolling Israeli West Bank Raids||Dahlan Leading Candidate to Head Palestinian Security Establishment||Diplomatic Efforts Stepped up a Gear||Security in Jerusalem on High Alert||Tension on the Border with Lebanon||STORY: Israel has intensified raids into West Bank cities after bombings it blames on Yasser Arafat. The tensions have raised fears that international efforts to revive peacemaking could be derailed and prompted the new diplomatic drive.

In Hebron, occupation troops in 30 to 40 tanks and armored personnel carriers left the southern West Bank city after dawn, several hours after sweeping in and launching house-to-house searches.

An occupation army spokesman said his army's troops seized four wanted men. A Reuters cameraman said they included senior Islamic Jihad militant Mohammed Sider. Palestinian security sources said the occupation army had twice previously tried to kill Sider.

The occupation army said it had detained six Palestinians in a village south of Tulkarm, near the dividing line between the West Bank and Israel, in a separate incursion.

DAHLAN EMERGING AS LEADING CANDIDATE TO HEAD PA SECURITY ESTABLISHMENT

In another development, Israeli sources claim that the U.S. now regards Mohammed Dahlan, head of the PA Preventive Security forces in Gaza, as a leading candidate to head that new security structure - and possibly step into line as Arafat's heir. Dahlan was in Washington last week, as were intelligence chiefs from Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, for meetings with Tenet.

While in Washington, Israeli sources told Haaretz, Dahlan made a strong positive impression on National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, while Mohammed Rashid, Yasser Arafat's financial adviser, failed to impress his American interlocutors, especially after reports came out that he had reached an understanding with the Americans that he would run the reform program for the Palestinian Authority.

The latest round of U.S. diplomatic efforts begins Thursday with the arrival of Egyptian presidential adviser Osama Al Baz in Israel.

Al Baz will meet with Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Minister Tzipi Livni.

DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS STEPPED UP A GEAR

Meanwhile, senior U.S. and European officials pursued fresh diplomacy to defuse Middle East violence.

William Burns, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer planned meetings with Sharon and Arafat on Thursday. Burns and Fischer were to have a private dinner in the evening.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana was due in at the weekend to meet Arafat and Israeli leaders separately.

The United States is considering setting a timetable for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in what would be a policy shift likely to be more welcome to the Palestinians than Israel.

Egyptian presidential adviser Osama el-Baz will hold talks with Sharon and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Israel on Friday, an Egyptian official said on Thursday.

He is visiting Israel a few days before Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak heads to Washington for his second summit with President Bush in three months.


ISRAELI SECURITY IN JERUSALEM ON HIGH ALERT

Israeli police sources said Thursday that forces in Jerusalem remain on high alert, after continued concrete warnings that Palestinian bombers are planning an attack in the city. (Read photo caption)

Police chief Shlomo Aharonisky said the forces were still on highest alert, especially in the northern parts.

Earlier Thursday, Israeli forces used rubber bullets and tear gas against hundreds of Palestinians, most of them residents of Jerusalem, who were waiting to cross the Qalandiyah checkpoint, south of Ramallah, and enter Palestinian-controled areas.

The checkpoint was due to open early in the morning, but because of the high alert for attacks, it remained closed. Israeli occupation soldiers have been preventing hundreds of trucks and hundreds of people from crossing the checkpoint

TENSION ON THE BORDER WITH LEBANON

At the same time, violence flared up again on Israel's volatile border with Lebanon when the Hizbollah Resistance group fired at Israeli jets, showering fragments of anti-aircraft rounds on a northern Israeli village, Lebanese security sources said.

They said the Lebanese Resistance group targeted Israeli jets carrying out mock raids over south Lebanese towns and villages and circling low over the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon.

The Israeli occupation army said the planes were flying over Israel's northern Galilee when they came under Hizbollah anti-aircraft fire. The planes were not hit and the fragments landed on a town in the upper Galilee. There were no reports of injury or damage.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli occupation soldier stands next to a cement wall being built to prevent West Bank Palestinians from entering Jerusalem from the quarry, seen in the back, near the Kalandia checkpoint in the West Bank Wednesday May 29, 2002. The checkpoint has been closed since last Tuesday preventing Palestinians from leaving Ramallah after a security alert in Israel of a possible attack. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Larma)