Saturday, November 24, 2001 Kislev 9, 5762 Israel Time: 19:21 (GMT+2)
12:28 24/11/2001 Last update - 19:14 24/11/2001
Peres: Success of Zinni's visit to Israel depends on Arafat
By Daniel Sobelman, Ha'aretz Correspondent and Ha'aretz Service
Shimon Peres: Arafat hasn't made 100 percent effort.
In an interview Friday on Palestinian television, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres attacked the behavior of the Palestinian Authority, saying, "Our problem is that the PA does not impose its will on other factions, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. As a result, these groups receive instructions from other sources. The first thing that the PA must do is to control all arms and warfare and all those who possess such items."
According to Peres, the number of Palestinian shooting incidents has dropped from around 40 a day to between 10 and 20. He said that if there were only two or three incidents a day, Israel wouldn't even discus the issue with the Palestinians.
Regarding the subject of the Palestinian leadership, Peres said, "In my view, Arafat is the chosen representative of the Palestinian nation. The Palestinian nation decides who represents it, and with that representative we hold discussions."
Peres said Saturday that the success of the upcoming visit by General Anthony Zinni, the United States' envoy to the Middle East, was largely dependent on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. "If he [Arafat] doesn't stop the fire, it will be hard to enter negotiations. The United States, Europe and ourselves all believe that he hasn't made a 100 percent effort."
In an interview on Israel Radio, Peres said he did not think the arrival of Zinni would lead to a situation in which understandings would be agreed on but not carried out. "I believe that Arafat holds the United States' opinion in high regard. He will be forced to prove that his claims [of reducing violence] have basis, otherwise he will be endangering his relations with the world, which to him are very important."
When asked if he thought the Zinni visit was a U.S. ploy to project an atmosphere of "false quiet" and to preserve American interests in the region, Peres responded by saying, "There is no such thing as 'false quiet.' If you kill someone with a silencer is that quiet? Killing is always loud, even with a silencer. So long as there are victims, it will be very hard to jumpstart the diplomatic process. Therefore, the only such thing ... is reducing the terror."
Peres said that even though United States Secretary of State Colin Powell did not stress in his speech last week the Israeli demand for a period of seven days of quiet before negotiations, it was still an important aspect. "It is still important to us. I re-iterate, if Arafat makes a 100 percent effort, as the U.S. demands, he will be able to produce seven days of quiet. It is not an impossible task."
Peres said he did not think that the assassination of senior Hamas activist Mahmoud Abu Hanoud on Friday night would be discussed very much during the Zinni visit, even though the U.S. was adamantly opposed to Israel's targeted killings of Palestinian activists. "I do not think that the Abu Hanoud incident will be anything special, because he was a known [terrorist]. You cannot stop terror without trying to influence terrorists or prevent them from carrying out attacks. I am not so sure that the Palestinians will make such a big deal of it, because if they would have put him in jail, they would have been able to save his life."
Regarding the assassination itself, Peres said that it was very important. "This was an obvious step of self defense. He did not intend to retire, and Israel had no choice but to protect itself," he said. The foreign minister added that this targeted killing was different from other such killings because Abu Hanoud, "was a professional terrorist, responsible for killing many people; and he was planning more attacks."
On the subject of the five Palestinian children killed, apparently by stray IDF munitions, Peres said that any killing of children, whether Israeli or Palestinian, was a horrible act. He added that the issue would be investigated. |
