Put Jihad and Hamas on terror list, PM to ask Bush
Peres: Terrorism expresses `a people's aspirations'
By Aluf Benn and Yossi Verter
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon leaves for the United States today on a five-day visit that climaxes next week in a meeting with President George W. Bush. Sharon will ask the U.S. leader to put Palestinian organizations on Washington's terror list; while his foreign minister, Shimon Peres, said yesterday that "terror is not a military conclusion, it's the way a people expresses its aspirations through weapons."
The dispute between the two over the negotiations with American peace envoy Anthony Zinni has placed the foreign minister on the side of those who say that cease-fire negotiations must include political elements. The prime minister, meanwhile, is sticking to his demand for an absolute cease-fire before the implementation of the Tenet work plan for a cease-fire and the Mitchell recommendations for confidence-building measures leading to renewed political negotiations.
Speaking at a Labor political session last night, Peres said that he accepted the view that in order to stop the fighting, the Palestinians must be offered a "political horizon."
"Terrorism can not be dealt with only with fire and sticks. It needs carrots, attitude, and creative listening to the other side," the foreign minister said, adding that if the negotiations were conducted only by military men, they would fail.
"If we're talking about a cease-fire, we have to meet the expectations of the other side," he said. "The Palestinians tell us that to reach a full cease-fire they have to have a civil war, but to have a civil war they need to know where it will lead. They ask us to end the siege, that's part of the cease-fire, but we find it difficult to do so.
"I propose that the negotiations for a cease-fire include political, emotional and economic elements, with a broad view of the region - otherwise we won't succeed," Peres said, openly indicating his displeasure with the appointment of reserve Maj. Gen. Meir Dagan, a counter-terrorism expert, to head the negotiating team.
"The negotiations can not be technical, but have to be comprehensive... You can't just name someone with this or that experience; you need someone with a broad political view," he said.
But in yesterday's cabinet meeting, which was focused on Zinni's mission, Peres was highly critical of the composition of the negotiating team the prime minister appointed to work with the American envoy. "You've set up a second foreign ministry outside the foreign ministry, bypassing me and leaving me out in the cold," Peres complained.
"In the past, the offices of prime ministers also ran negotiations... The Palestinians appointed a political team so that I would, and then there would be political negotiations under fire," Sharon retorted.
Peres spoke of the need for expanding the dialogue with the Palestinians beyond the security issues, and attacked Sharon's demand for "seven days of absolute quiet" as a first step to implement the Mitchell plan. "That will give a veto to the extremists who could torpedo the negotiations," Peres said.
"I won't give up even an hour of the week's quiet," Sharon shot back.
Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz used the quarrel to comment that the Zinni visit should not shackle the army, and Sharon replied: "Nobody is limiting your or chaining you. The IDF is free to act." But government sources said later that the cabinet had not approved a number of operational proposals made by the army.
Sharon to New York first
Sharon heads to the United States tonight for a five-day visit that starts with a trip to New York. The prime minister will meet with outgoing New York Mayor Rudy Giulliani and newly-elected mayor Michael Bloomberg; he will also pay a visit to Ground Zero - the site of the destoryed Twin Towers in lower Manhattan.
But it's his meeting with Bush that is uppermost in Sharon's mind as he heads westward. Although the details of Sharon's "shopping list" for the meeting with Bush haven't been finalized, there are several issues that will top the prime minister's agenda. These include:
* The war on terrorism - Sharon wants to know what the Americans are planning after the operation in Afghanistan. Israel wants the terror organizations opposing it, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, included on the presidential list of terror organizations, thereby making them targets for U.S. military action. Israel also regards the Tanzim and Force 17 as terror groups and wants the Americans to include them on its list.
* Iraq - Israel wants to have advance warning of any U.S. moves against Iraq so Jerusalem can take appropriate action to ready the population and the army. Sharon is expected to tell Bush that if attacked by Iraq, Israel will regard itself as free to respond in self-defense.
* The Palestinian track - Sharon will tell Bush that Arafat has to make a "strategic decision" to abandon terrorism and to start taking preventive action against the organizations in the territories. He'll express full support for Zinni's mission to reach a cease-fire. According to government sources, if there is a cease-fire, Israel will cease its initiated actions and will agree to a series of steps such as withdrawing forces, opening checkpoints and lifting sieges.
* Settlements - Sharon believes the issue of the settlements should only come up in what he calls the third stage of the Mitchell plan, the period of the confidence-building measures.
* Iran - Sharon will explain that Israel regards any Iranian nuclear development program, aided by Russia, as a threat and will ask Bush to step up his efforts to influence the Russians to halt the "leakage" of nuclear technology to Tehran. |
