Posted on 04/11/2002 8:24:36 PM PDT by scratchgolfer
This is Arafat's last chance - US official
By Herb Keinon
JERUSALEM (April 12) - The IDF was poised late last night to withdraw from a number of Palestinian villages, in an apparent attempt to ease the atmosphere for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's talks this morning with US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
A senior administration official told The Associated Press that Powell intends to warn Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat the United States is prepared to sever ties with him unless he renounces terrorism.
"The message is: This is it. Last chance," said the official, who cautioned that Powell and US President George W. Bush will not finalize the message for Arafat until the meeting draws closer.
Powell landed late last night, and is scheduled to meet this morning with Sharon, and then later separately with Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and President Moshe Katsav. A joint Powell-Sharon press conference is slated after the two men meet.
Tomorrow, Powell is expected to meet with Arafat. No date for his return to the US has been set.
Powell was met at the airport by Peres, US special envoy Anthony Zinni, and US Ambassador Dan Kurtzer. He received briefings on the current situation from Zinni and Kurtzer.
Just prior to his arrival, Sharon's office issued a statement saying the IDF would be leaving a number of Palestinian villages yesterday evening, and would leave the other Palestinian cities when the IDF has accomplished its goals there.
Sharon spoke by phone last night with Binyamin Netanyahu just before his scheduled meeting with US Vice President Dick Cheney, to give him up-to-the-minute information on the situation.
Earlier in the day, Sharon reiterated the IDF would not pull out of the four major West Bank cities until the military operation is complete.
"Our activity will continue. We're not about to leave Jenin, Nablus, or Ramallah or any other place we're in at present," Sharon said during a tour of Tel Aviv police headquarters.
"We won't leave until the terrorists inside agree to surrender," he said.
Sharon said the IDF has no intention of leaving Arafat's compound in Ramallah until the murderers of tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi, and Fuad Shubaki, a major figure in the Karine A affair, are "caught and in our hands."
Ze'evi's killers and Shubaki are among a group of several dozen who have taken refuge in Arafat's compound.
"They [the Americans] have problems in the region, that's true, but I informed them that our activity will continue, and it will continue," Sharon concluded.
On his way from Amman, Powell said the pace of the pullback would be part of a "very long conversation" he would have with Sharon today. He spoke with Sharon by phone yesterday.
Powell was asked at an Amman news conference whether the pace of Israel's military withdrawal was an affront to Bush.
"I don't see it as an affront," he said, but added, "I think the president has made his position clear: He wants the incursion stopped. He has noted some progress, but he wants to see more progress."
Powell added pointedly: "However long the Israeli incursions continue, whether they pull out of everywhere today or whether they pull out of everywhere they are now over a longer period of time, the problem will still be there. There will still be people who are willing to resort to violence and terror, people who are willing to use suicide bombs and other kinds of bombs."
Interior Minister Eli Yishai, a member of the security cabinet and a close Sharon confidant, said Sharon will likely try to convince Powell this morning of the need to finish the military operation and will show him "incontrovertible" evidence linking Arafat to suicide bombers and terror.
As far as the "diplomatic horizon" the US has been pressing for, Yishai said Israel will push the idea of some kind of international peace conference, along the lines of the Madrid Conference 10 years ago.
Israeli officials said in addition to the disagreement with the US over when the IDF should withdraw from the Palestinian cities, there is concern the two countries are on a collision course over Powell's comments in Madrid on Wednesday about a political process taking place hand-in-hand with a cease-fire. Diplomatic officials said this sounds distinctly like a demand for Sharon to negotiate under fire, something they said he will not do.
A PA source said any cease-fire must be based on the Madrid declaration by the US, EU, UN, and Russia linking it with political negotiations and calls for an Israeli withdrawal and the implementation of the Tenet and Mitchell plans.
The source said the Palestinians would rely on Arafat's credibility with his people, saying he would try to persuade the Palestinians to abide by a cease-fire, rather than enforce it through force. To do so, he needs to have some political gains to show, the source said.
The Palestinians will also argue they need time to implement their commitment according to the Tenet plan, since they first need to regroup their police and security forces. They will ask Powell to pressure Israel to accept international observers to protect the PA from IDF raids and to safeguard any cease-fire agreement.
Western diplomatic sources said a second meeting between Zinni and PA officials may take place today to prepare for Powell's meeting with Arafat tomorrow. Zinni met with PA officials in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said last night Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher will not arrive today to meet Arafat, despite the government's giving him permission to do so.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry was widely quoted as saying Maher will not arrive because Sharon refused when first asked on Wednesday to let the meeting take place. Israeli diplomatic officials said the US was pressing Egypt to go ahead with the meeting.
credit to FReeper CROSSHIGHWAYMAN
If this administration were any different than the last they would arrest Arafat for conspiracy to commit murder. I could see this administration negotiate with Hitler while a Democrat defeated him.
Powell should instead pressure the UN to place international observers to protect Israel from PA terrorists.
This is practically ceremonial from our standpoint. It is quite different this time. You'll see.
The appropriate analogy would be Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown.
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