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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: HH who wrote (1163)	12/9/2001 10:27:47 AM
From: Scoobah	Respond to of 32591

Palestinians: Zinni says will leave region if sides cannot commit By Amos Harel, Daniel Sobelman and Dalia Shehori, Ha'aretz Corresondents U.S. envoy to the Middle East Anthony Zinni told Israeli and Palestinian representatives Sunday afternoon that he would leave the region if the two sides did not come to some constructive decisions within the next 48 hours, a Palestinian source reported. Zinni, who was attending a joint security meeting in Jerusalem, then walked out of the meeting a short time after it began, the source said. The meeting is the second of its kind between Israel and the Palestinians in the past few days. The two sides also met Friday in a meeting that an Israeli official described as "difficult." Joint security coordination ended soon after the start of the intifada in September last year. The 'inner cabinet' troika of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer is scheduled to meet Sunday night to decide if Israel will allow Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to leave for a convention of Islamic Foreign Ministers, to be held Monday in Qatar. The three are also expected discuss the departure of PA Minister for International Cooperation Nabil Sha'ath to a convention of foreign ministers in Brussels. In response to a request made by Ben-Eliezer, Sunday's cabinet meeting was held at the IDF's headquarters in the West Bank, close to the settlement of Beit El. The defense minister proposed the idea on the grounds that it would be a good way for the government to meet and be briefed by the high ranking military echelon. Present at the meeting were IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Shaul Mofaz; GOC of Central Command Major General Yitzhak Eitan; Coordinator of Government Activities in the West Bank Major General Amos Gilad; the commander of the Jordan Valley Division; Chief of Police Shlomo Aharonishky and a representative of the Shin Bet security service. In his report, Ben-Eliezer said that there was a discrepancy between the number of militants Arafat claims to have arrested, and the number known to security sources. According to the defense minister, only 10 of the 33 activists on a list given to the PA by Israel have been arrested. In an interview to Channel One Television on Friday, Arafat said that he had arrested 17 militants. Ben-Eliezer said that the arrests were not the only problem, but that there was also a problem regarding the way the PA interrogated the militants. "It [the interrogations] is non-existent," he said. Sharon also asked how Sha'ath had received permission to attend the Brussels meeting, after the government decided that senior PA officials would have their VIP status (which enables them to travel freely) removed. Ben-Eliezer replied that the officials could still leave the country as "regular" citizens residing the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Peres said that Sha'ath was invited to the meeting, as he had been, and recommended that Israel "not prevent him from leaving." However, the prime minister replied, "Sha'ath should be busy fighting terror. He has a job here." Education Minister Limor Livnat asked whether or not Arafat would be allowed to attend the Qatar conference. Sharon replied that he had received no official request from the PA, and added, "If you ask my opinion, it will be hard for him to leave, because he should be very busy here arresting people and fighting terror." Sharon added that a final decision would be reached at the Sunday night meeting.