The Palestinian Authority (PA)'s preventive security chief in Gaza, Mohammad Dahlan, said in an interview on Saturday that Israel's continued aggression against the Palestinian territories was preventing action against "militant opposition groups that attack Israel."
Speaking in French daily "Le Figaro," Dahlan blamed Israel for failing "to seize the opportunity offered" by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who called for a ceasefire and an end to attacks against Israelis.
The statement was republished by the official Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA).
If Israel had reacted positively and lifted the siege of the Palestinian territories, "the Palestinian public would condemn all violent action by the opposition to Arafat," he said.
The top security official said that despite continued actions by Israeli forces, Palestinians had continued to agree to meet with Israeli officials and implement their part of the security agreements.
"If the Israelis continue to behave like this, we will no longer be able to implement the proposals of Yasser Arafat," Dahlan said.
Moreover, resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is too complicated to be portrayed as a matter of a few arrests, according to Dahlan.
"Israel wants to simplify the conflict in bringing it down to a problem of arrests," he said. "But this is not the principal aim of the ceasefire." – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
