Israel Nabs Palestinian Activists, Peace Plan Lags

14/12/2002| IslamWeb

Israeli occupation forces detained at least 14 Palestinians in the West Bank in a new sweep for resistance men on Saturday as international peace efforts looked likely to be eclipsed by wider Middle East developments. An Israeli occupation army spokesman said 12 'Activists ' were nabbed overnight around Ramallah, political base of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat , and two in the area of Bethlehem. Occupation troops continued scouring the biblical city after daybreak.

On Friday, the occupation army killed two resistance men in the West Bank. Hamas, an Islamic group sworn to Israel's destruction which has spearheaded resistance bombings in a more than two-year-old independence uprising, issued new calls for revenge.

The United States has tried to keep the violence contained so as not to buck its campaign to disarm Iraq, and forms part of a "Quartet" of Middle East mediators due to meet next week on a peace plan initiated more that six months ago.

But diplomats said it was unlikely the so-called "road map" for three-stage rapprochement between Israel and the Palestinians, culminating in security for the former and statehood for the latter, would be completed on December 20.

"The signal the United States is sending us is that you should not expect a completed road map. Our side is arguing back on that," a European diplomat said on Friday.

The Quartet mediators -- the United States, the European Union , Russia and the United Nations -- broadly agree on what the plan should include but disagree on when to release it.

The Israelis and Palestinians disagree on the more fundamental question of how specific the plan should be.

ISRAEL ELECTIONS, IRAQ WAR TAKE PRECEDENCE

In Israel there was little surprise at the turgid timetable, pointing at general elections scheduled for January 28.

"Washington has made it clear that no final plan will be presented before the new government is in power," an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 's office said. "Of course, that new government will then have to approve the plan."

Palestinians considered the United States was again acting as Israel's guardian ally.

"This shows that the American policy intervenes only for the good of Sharon, not for the good of the peace process," Palestinian official Saeb Erekat told Reuters.

Most in the region believe the road map will go nowhere until the Iraq issue is resolved.

One senior Israeli security source said a U.S. offensive on Iraq was expected in late January, and saw Washington applying "peace pressure" on Israel in conjunction with any such move.

"America's war will not be very popular in the Arab world, so we expect it to apply more 'peace pressure' on Israel to accommodate Palestinian negotiating demands," the source said.

For now, Israeli-American ties seemed robust as ever.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was to leave on Saturday night for a week of high-level talks in New York and Washington, the official in Sharon's office said.

The hawkish Mofaz was due to meet with his U.S. counterpart, Colin Powell , who in a Washington policy speech on Thursday blamed the Middle East stalemate on Palestinian 'Activism' .

"Get the terror and violence down, then we're in a position to get movement from the Israeli side," Powell said.

Arafat has said he is powerless to stop the resistance men, and has pushed for a resumption of talks which stalled in 2000.

Israel has refused, with the Sharon government placing fault for the resistance bombings and other attacks at Arafat's feet.

At least 1,720 Palestinians and 670 Israelis have died in the violence which erupted in September 2000.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian boy shouts anti-Israeli slogans during a rally by the Islamic resistance group Hamas in the Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, December 13, 2002. The rally was one of the biggest Hamas has held since the start of a Palestinian uprising in September 2000. Thousands of Hamas supporters gathered at a sports stadium in the southern Gaza town for a mass rally to mark the 15th anniversary of the group's founding. (Reinhard Krause/Reuter