Arafat Aide Proposes Truce, Israel Rejects it

16/09/2003| IslamWeb

A top aide to Palestinian President Yasir Arafat has proposed an indefinite ceasefire with Israel, but Israeli officials brushed aside the offer and demanded that the Palestinian Authority crack down on Palestinian armed groups. In the event of such a ceasefire, the Palestinian leadership would ensure that the peace deal is respected if Israel halted all its attacks and closures of the Palestinian territories. Colonel Jibril al-Rajub, who is the Palestinian leader's security adviser, told Israeli state radio on Tuesday that the Palestinian leadership would ensure that resistance groups, including Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, would respect such a ceasefire. "The Palestinian leadership is ready to proclaim and respect a general ceasefire, but it must be mutual ... Israel must stop its attacks and the closing of the (occupied) territories," he said. "This indefinite ceasefire must enable the two parties to sit down and discuss a definitive settlement," al-Rajub said. **Hamas Caution*** However, Hamas has cautioned the Palestinian Authority against going forward with such a proposal. Hamas spokesman in Lebanon Usama Hamdan told Aljazeera net that "Israel cannot be believed." "Arafat signed the Oslo accords with Israel in full public view 10 years ago. But what has happened since then? We have reached a stage where Arafat is now in danger of being expelled. So how can we trust the Israelis? See the condition Arafat has been reduced to," Hamdan said. Arafat called on resistance groups late in August to renew their commitment to the interim ceasefire, to "stop the war, the killing, the assassinations and daily military escalation". However, Hamas rejected the appeal, accusing Israel of "torpedoing the truce with their assassinations of women, children and Palestinian political leaders." There was no immediate Israeli reaction to al-Rajub's proposal on Tuesday. **Israeli Assassinations Continue*** Israeli special forces in the West Bank village of Dura, south of Hebron, shot dead a top Hebron-area Islamic Jihad leader Tuesday, after he attempted to escape from a house that had been surrounded and fired upon by the occupation soldiers. Israeli troops then continued to fire missiles at the house, located in the village of Dura, believing that another Palestinian fighter may have remained inside. The slain fighter, identified as Majid Abu Dosh, was among the Jihad leadership in the Hebron area. The incident came just hours after occupation forces in the West Bank arrested nine members of Hamas and Fatah. One of those arrested in the overnight raids was a teenager from Nablus. **Security Council to Vote on Resolution to Protect Arafat*** The United Nations Security Council is poised to vote on a resolution demanding Israel neither harm nor deport Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. However, Washington, Israel's closest ally, is still threatening to veto the ballot. Its ambassador to the UN, John Negroponte, told reporters: "We could not support a resolution that does not contain a robust condemnation of terrorism and we specifically mentioned the groups we believe have been responsible for these acts." The threat to exile or even kill Arafat seems to have increased the man's status. He has been visited by Church leaders at his compound in Ramallah in the West Bank. And in the streets, a round-the-clock human shield is there to protect him against any Israeli attempt to remove him. The UN has announced its determination to relaunch the road map peace plan, with meetings scheduled for the end of the month. But the gulf between Palestinians and Israelis has rarely been deeper. **PHOTO CAPTION*** Zionist border police secure the area overlooking the construction by Zionist authorities of part of the separation wall between east Jerusalem and the West Bank village of Abu Dis, background Tuesday Sept. 16, 2003. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)