Full story
FOCUS-Palestinian attack draws Israeli
ultimatum
05:03 p.m Dec 02, 1998 Eastern
By Danny Gur-arieh
JERUSALEM, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Israel served
Palestinians an ultimatum on Wednesday that could
scuttle implementation of the latest Middle East peace
deal after a Palestinian mob assaulted two Israelis in
the West Bank.
A government statement said Israel would cede no
more land to the Palestinian Authority until its leaders
promised not to declare a Palestinian state in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip next year.
The statement, issued after Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu consulted members of his security cabinet,
also said Palestinians must agree to Israel's terms for
the release of prisoners from Israeli jails.
''Israel will carry out the next stage of the withdrawal
only if...the Palestinian Authority announces clearly
that it is abandoning its intention to unilaterally declare
a Palestinian state,'' the statement said.
Israel agreed in an accord signed in Washington in
October to hand over another 13 percent of the West
Bank in three stages. It was already carried out the
first stage.
The language was the toughest Israel has used since
the Wye accord was reached. Palestinians quickly
rejected the ultimatum.
''This is completely unacceptable,'' said top
Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat.
He told Reuters he had asked for intervention by the
United States, which has mediated in
Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, ''to stop this Israeli
policy of preconditions.''
The attack on the two Israelis, a soldier and a civilian,
took place near Ramallah during a student protest
against the detention by Israel of Palestinian political
prisoners.
Dozens of Palestinians pelted their car with stones
when the Israelis drove past the site of the protest,
shattering the windows and forcing the vehicle to a
halt.
The civilian fled as the mob closed in on the car.
Palestinians pulled the soldier from the vehicle,
grabbed his rifle and beat and kicked him while he
crouched on the ground. He sustained a slight head
injury.
Palestinian security officials later traced the gun and
returned it to Israel.
Netanyahu's communications chief David Bar-Illan
said the violence was ''instigated by the Palestinian
Authority,'' pointing to remarks by top Palestinian
officials calling for confrontation with Israel.
The fate of Palestinian ''political prisoners'' has been
at the centre of Israeli-Palestinian wrangling since the
Wye deal was signed.
Israel agreed at the talks to free 750 Palestinians in
three stages but terms of the release were not
included in the agreement nor in accompanying letters.
Palestinians say those released must be political
prisoners -- Palestinians jailed for fighting against
Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
including members of the Islamic militant Hamas
group.
''Israel will carry out the next stage of the withdrawal
only if the Palestinian Authority makes clear that it is
committed to the agreement reached at Wye based
on which prisoners with blood on their hands will not
be released nor will Hamas members,'' said the
government statement.
Israel freed the first 250 prisoners last month but
angered Palestinians by including 150 common
criminals.
Bar-Illan said earlier that Netanyahu had written to
U.S. President Bill Clinton on November 30 citing
''major areas of violations'' by Palestinians of the
peace deal.
He said the letter accused Arafat of violating
undertakings to negotiate a permanent peace by
saying he would unilaterally declare an independent
state when the period set for Israelis and Palestinians
to negotiate that deal expires on May 4, 1999.
In East Jerusalem, hundreds of Palestinians clashed
with Israeli police during the funeral of a 41-year-old
Palestinian stabbed to death earlier in the day in an
attack police said may have been the work of a
Jewish serial killer.
Witnesses said Israeli forces responded to a hail of
stones with teargas and rubber-coated bullets.
Several people were wounded in the violence,
including two television cameramen.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. |
