Arafat rejected secret talks with Netanyahu as Hebron threaten outbreak
Palestine-Israel, Local, 3/17/1998

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat turned down another Israeli offer to engage in secret direct talks to break the present impasse in the political process, sources in Ramallah said Tuesday.

The sources confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sent his proposal through a number of mediators and emissaries, including his close aide Yitzhak Molcho, but was told that there is no point to starting any secret direct talks. “There is no reason at this stage to conduct secret talks. The gaps are too wide, and I don’t believe that Netanyahu really wants to reach an agreement,” Arafat reportedly replied to those messages.

Israeli opposition Labor Party member Shlomo Ben Ami, who returned recently from a visit to Egypt, said Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa hinted during talks that there is no point in pursuing secret channels of talks between Arafat and Netanyahu, saying that “the Arab world doesn’t believe in this man [Netanyahu] any longer.” Sources close to Netanyahu said he is indeed interested in a secret channel of talks with President Arafat because he believes that such closed, direct meetings with Arafat away from the media coverage could move the process forward.

Meanwhile, the situation in Hebron continues to threaten a new outbreak of violence. Palestinian and Israeli officials expressed concern that more clashes might take place despite the warning aired by West Bank Preventive Security chief Colonel Jibril Rajoub who said on Monday that settlers who enter the Palestinian areas with the intention to attack Palestinians will not come out alive. Sufian Abu Zaydeh, head of the Palestinian's Israel Desk, tried to calm Israeli worries over the warning and said that Rajoub meant to clarify that whoever wants to come for shopping whether in Gaza or Hebron, is welcome and won't be harmed because Israelis are received warmly. But settlers who are always trying to provoke Palestinians there, who think that Palestinians should be expelled are the ones whom we do not welcome and if they mean to harm Palestinians then they will be met the way Rajoub spoke about. We’re not talking about normal people, who are willing to look for coexistence."

Colonel Jibril Rajoub’s comments stirred anger in Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the warning "was grave and could cause escalation and angry passions and it was done instead of the Palestinian Authority making an effort to calm emotions.” Netanyahu said the Palestinian government must decide whether it is oriented to calming the situation and to peace, or whether it wants at any price to prevent the progress of the peace process.”

Leaders of Jewish settlements in the occupied West bank attacked Rajoub too and demanded that Israel stop all security contacts with him "despite the price which this is liable to toll. Jibril Rajoub is a terrorist wearing a police uniform. The government of Israel and security forces must sever all contacts with him.” Some settlement leaders, like Uri Ariel, head of Beit El settlement council near Ramallah said Rajoub should be arrested. But science minister Michael Eitan told Israel TV Monday night that Rajoub's statement was not that controversial "because he spoke of settlers who enter PNA areas with the intention to harm Palestinians and I see this a form of self defense." Eitan, who is a member of Netanyahu's Likud Party said that Rajoub's warning was conditional to settlers who enter Palestinian areas with the intention of killing Palestinians and not to settlers who go there and hold normal visits.

Netanyahu, for his part and in his capacity as acting foreign minister ordered that an official document be redrafted in such a way that it exempts settlers from responsibility for the latest violent events in Hebron and claims that the shooting started from the Palestinian side at the settlers. In the original draft, it was written that the settlers entered Palestinian territory without clearance. The settlers were outraged by this formulation, and claimed out that they entered the area after shots were fired at them by Palestinians. Army sources had said that the shooting that went out of the Palestinian areas was in the air and was not directed at the settlers.

Palestinian sources complained about the rotating-door policy Israel is using against Jewish settlers in Hebron and noted that out of the 15 Jewish settlers who were summoned for questioning at the Hebron police station for their role in last week's disturbances in Hebron, only three reported to the police. "Had Israel been chasing Palestinian suspects, Israeli troops would have immediately searched their houses and arrested them. But with the settlers, the approach is totally different. Those outlaws can report to the police at ease and it seems they know there is not official pressure on them," the sources said.

According to Israeli police records, some two thirds of police files initiated against Jewish settlers in the West Bank in 1997 were opened against Jewish settlers in Hebron. This large percentage explains why Palestinians insist that Jewish settlement in the heart of Hebron is a powder keg that can explode any time because of the provocative manner and behavior of those settlers. There were 304 files opened with the Israeli police against Jewish settlers all over the West Bank and out of those 213 were filed against settlers in the Hebron region.

Israeli police sources said that the police will issue arrest warrants against those settlers who failed to report to the police station. The sources said that on Monday eight more settlers were served with subpoena orders after evidence was compiled affirming their participation in the Friday night disturbances and attacks on Arabs. The head of Hebron police station in the Jewish settlement area in the heart of the city, Yaacov Ish Yamini, strongly attacked Hebron settlers for allowing children to take part in public disturbances, like the one which transpired on Saturday night. “This is a very grave development, he said and added that whoever makes such cynical use of children should stand up in front of them, and confess that they erred and even sinned when they encouraged them to engage in clashes with the Israeli policemen. He mentioned nothing on the fact that those same children were also involved in attacks on Palestinians as well and not only Israeli policemen or soldiers.

Previous Stories:
  Rajoub: Settlers who attack Palestinian areas won't get out alive   (3/16/1998)
  25 wounded by Israelis including several journalists in clashes   (3/14/1998)
  Tense Friday as a result of Bloody Tuesday   (3/13/1998)

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