Sharon meets Arafat aides for secret talks
By Inigo Gilmore in Jerusalem
(Filed: 04/02/2002)
ARIEL SHARON, Israel's prime minister, and Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, made rare peace overtures at the weekend but, after 16 months of fighting, few dare to hope that the Middle East will turn away from bloodshed.
Mr Sharon, who has said he would refuse to negotiate peace under fire, was unrepentant at the weekend when it emerged that he met senior Palestinian officials for secret talks last week.
For his part, Mr Arafat wrote a rare letter published yesterday in the New York Times denouncing terrorist attacks on Israeli civilians, pledging to restrain militants and offering to meet any Israeli leader to negotiate a lasting peace.
"We are ready to sit down now with any Israeli leader, regardless of his history, to negotiate freedom for the Palestinians, a complete end to the occupation, security for Israel and creative solutions to the plight of refugees while respecting Israel's demographic concerns," he said.
These moves came on the eve of Mr Sharon's trip to Washington and it was not clear if they indicated a fundamental shift in policy by either side or merely an attempt to curry favour with the Americans.
Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, whose attempt to launch a new round of mediation was undermined by a sharp upsurge in violence, expressed cautious satisfaction with the actions of both leaders.
"We can't walk away from the current crisis in the Middle East," he said on US television. "We've got to get back on a track that provides a cease-fire and then go forward to the negotiations."
Mr Sharon's overtures were welcomed by Labour ministers in his cabinet, who have come under increasing pressure to pull out of the national unity government, but caused outrage among settlers and others on the Israeli Right.
He told his cabinet yesterday that he would not rule out similar meetings in future. He had told the Palestinians he was interested in reaching a final status agreement but without outlining a timetable.
The meeting in Jerusalem with Abu Ala, the Palestinian parliamentary speaker, Abu Mazen, chief negotiator, and Mohammed Rashid, a senior financial adviser to MrArafat, was the first between Mr Sharon and any senior Palestinian officials since he took office a year ago.
It indicates that, despite his insistence that Mr Arafat is "irrelevant", he is still seeking some sort of accommodation with the Palestinian Authority.
The apparent tactical shift comes against a backdrop of growing criticism, at home and abroad, over Mr Sharon's hardline strategy and mounting economic problems as the conflict drags on.
Opinion polls in Israel at the weekend give Mr Sharon his lowest public approval rating in months, dropping from 57 per cent to 48 per cent since December, according to Israeli daily Maariv.
The news of his slip in the polls came as 104 combat reserve officers signed a petition against serving in the occupied territories.
The petition is the most serious domestic challenge to Mr Sharon's policies on the Palestinian issue since he came to power.
"We will not take part in the war for the peace of the settlements," said the petition, published in the press on Jan 25.
"We will not fight beyond the Green Line [Israel's 1967 border with the West Bank] in order to rule, expel, destroy, blockade, assassinate, starve and humiliate an entire people."
The protest has won support from some unexpected sources, including Ami Ayalon, the former head of the Shin Bet intelligence service, who told Israeli television that he felt "a lot of empathy for the reserve officers" when they were asked to execute "blatantly illegal" orders.
"As far as I'm concerned, too few soldiers are refusing such orders," he said. "To shoot an unarmed youth is a blatantly illegal order. I am very worried by the number of Palestinian children shot in the last year."
The protest has resonated with the predominant public mood of despair in Israel and growing calls for the government to explore other options to break the cycle of bloodshed.
Ahmed Tibi, a former personal adviser to Mr Arafat, said he doubted that Mr Sharon was sincerely committed to returning to the negotiating table.
"I believe the prime minister will always find reasons to undermine the process," he said.
Yossi Sarid, an opposition leader, wondered "how many times will we be led astray by [Sharon's] false hopes" but noted that it had at least broken a taboo.
He said: "It throws light on the ridiculous nature of the government's policy. The government declared that Yasser Arafat was 'irrelevant' and it goes and meets the people closest to him."
Shimon Peres, the foreign minister, said Mr Arafat's pledge to end to attacks on Israeli civilians was a "good beginning" but told him to back his words with deeds.
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