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Thursday, March 14, 2002

Israeli sniper troops atop buildings opened fire on Palestinian residents in the streets of the West Bank town of Ramallah, said Palestinian eyewitnesses and medical sources in the West Bank town. Four Palestinians were killed and six were injured, these sources said.

The Israeli army tanks, which had rolled into the town Wednesday, began leaving the main squares they had seized. Hundreds of residents began returning to the homes from which they'd fled when the occupation of the town began.

The witnesses said the residents did not know that snipers were stationed on the rooftops of several high-rises.

Medical sources said the four who were slain were dead on arrival at the hospital.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement's armed wing Al Aqsa Martyr Brigades claimed responsibility for the bombing attack Thursday morning southeast of Gaza City that killed three Israeli soldiers and wounded four others.

A bomb detonated when an Israeli army convoy drove over it.

Palestinian radio's "Voice of Palestine" said the Israeli military convoy was driving on the road between Nitzarim junction and the Karni commercial passage southeast of Gaza, when a huge blast was heard in the area.

Three were killed, and four who were injured were taken to an Israeli hospital in southern Israel, the radio said, quoting Palestinian eyewitnesses in the area.

Israeli officials said Wednesday that they believed that the U.S. envoy, retired Marine Corps Gen. Zinni, stands a better chance of success in his renewed attempt to arrange a cease-fire, despite his past failures and the serious deterioration of the last fortnight.

Zinni is due in Israel on Thursday afternoon. It is not clear how long he will stay.

A U.S. diplomatic source in Tel Aviv told United Press International that the Israelis and the Palestinians have "indicated they are ready."

A senior Israeli government official, who spoke to UPI on condition of anonymity, said: "I don't believe we can reach a complete cease-fire in this round of contacts, but perhaps we might have a reduction in violence and first steps towards a cease-fire."

Seven Quiet Days No Longer Required

Israeli officials noted that Sharon no longer insists on having seven consecutive quiet days before beginning to implement the Tenet agreement. Zinni is trying to implement the pact, named after CIA Director George Tenet, who brokered it last summer in an attempt to reach a cease-fire and an eventual negotiation.

Sharon said last week he realized that under the present circumstances his demand couldn't be fulfilled.

The prime minister, who is now marking his first year in office, knows he has failed to deliver his pre-election promise of providing peace and security. The wave of terror seems worse than ever, and more of the same is not an option Israelis want. There is widespread dismay with his leadership even within his own Likud Party, according to a recent public opinion poll.

Sharon has decided to negotiate and for the time being appears ready to pay the political price: The hawkish National Unity-Israel Is Our Home parliamentary faction is quitting his coalition. Its ministers tended their resignations Tuesday, and they go into effect Thursday.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday welcomed the U.N. Security Council's passage of a U.S.-sponsored Middle East resolution envisioning "a region where ... Israel and Palestine live side-by-side."

Approval of the resolution minutes before midnight Tuesday capped a day of Middle East debate for the 15-member panel that began with Annan in a formal meeting decrying the Middle East violence as the worst "carnage" in 10 years.

For the first time, Tuesday, Annan called the Israeli occupation "illegal." It was his strongest statement yet on the nearly 18-month uprising.

Before diving into a sea of questions Wednesday about Israel, the Palestinians and the late night Security Council action, Annan said in his opening statement, "I am convinced that this vision is shared by the great majority of people on both sides, and indeed by the whole world.

"I strongly urge both sides and their leaders to heed the council's demand for an immediate cessation of violence, and its call on them to cooperate in implementing the (CIA Director George) Tenet and (former U.S. Sen. George) Mitchell plans, with the aim of resuming negotiations on a political settlement," he told reporters.

When asked about what some detected as softening support for the Tenet-Mitchell plans, he said, "Mitchell and Tenet agreements were intended to be a vehicle, if you wish, a bridge, to get the parties to the table. It became such a condition it became almost a roadblock and now of course the parties have indicated that they want to work with Gen. (Anthony) Zinni, (President Bush's special representative)."

The Tenet plan, negotiated with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in June 2001, said the two parties would immediately resume security cooperation, enforce "strict adherence" to a cease-fire, and "move aggressively" to prevent attacks from their areas. The work plan was supposed to create the conditions for implementing the Mitchell recommendations.

The Mitchell recommendations of May 2001 called for an immediate, unconditional cessation of violence, a cooling-off period followed by confidence-building measures such as an Israeli freeze on all settlement activity, and an eventual resumption of peace negotiations. Mitchell headed a committee that included top European Union, Norwegian and Turkish personalities.

Seizing the Bridge

"Since the two of them (Israel and the Palestinians) have accepted these two plans we hope to accelerate this implementation and to get them back to the table for the political discussions and settlement," Annan said. "That is the ultimate goal. Tenet doesn't do that. So it is a bridge to get them there and I hope that they will seize it and work with him so that we can see them at the table.

"I think it is quite clear that if the two parties are left to themselves they cannot resolve this issue given what we've all witnessed over the last 17 months or so and therefore we need effective third party involvement," he said.

The secretary-general said he and his special representative in the area, Terje Roed-Larsen, the European Union, Russia and the United States were working as a "quartet," talking with Arab leaders. Annan spoke positively of a convergence of efforts.

"I did refer yesterday (Tuesday) to the fact that Gen. Zinni, is in the region to urge the parties to work with him now that he is on the ground," said the secretary-general. "I also notice Vice President (Dick) Cheney is there and now this (council action).

"The leaders will have an opportunity of talking with him (Zinni) and on the ground my representative Roed-Larsen, the United States, Russia and the European Union to get the parties moving on this issue," Annan said.

The secretary-general also said he was going to the Arab Summit in Beirut later this month, but would not say if he planned to stop anywhere else in the region.

"The Security Council adopted an important resolution," said the Palestinian observer, Nasser Al-Kidwa, early Wednesday after the 14-0 vote, with one abstention, Syria.

"The fact that the United States of America presented that resolution is indeed significant," he told reporters. "It has been quite some time (that there has not been) such a positive attitude by the United States toward the principle of engagement by the council in Middle Eastern affairs and also towards dealing with concrete language in the form of a resolution."

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Wednesday, "Israel welcomes the efforts of the United States to include ... a clause calling for the immediate cessation of terrorism and incitement."

In a statement issued in Jerusalem, Peres said, "Israel is a party to the desire to achieve an immediate cease-fire through an implementation of the Mitchell and Tenet plans, this in order to pave the way toward a renewal of the peace process and a return to the negotiating table."

Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon but not some hard-liners, have long reconciled themselves to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state beside theirs, but want it done in an agreement. The differences are over the terms of such an agreement.

Washington vetoed the last Middle East resolution in the Security Council last December, which sought to send international monitors, saying it couldn't agree to it since Israel refused to accept monitors.

This U.S.-sponsored resolution, in a preamble paragraph, said it was "Affirming a vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side-by-side within secure and recognized borders."

Calling this approved measure a "strong resolution," U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said, "I think it captured a broad consensus on the goals and the necessary next steps in the Middle East peace process. It also speaks out strongly against terrorism, which we think is important."

Syria's ambassador, Mikhail Wehbe, thought Israel should have been condemned in the resolution "in light of Israeli massacres" and the number of Palestinian detainees.

"We abstained to give a message," Wehbe said. "We did not want to break the unity of the council."

Copyright 2002 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.

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