The Israeli Haaretz daily reported Wednesday that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat ordered Marwan Barghouthi, the secretary-general of the Tanzim paramilitary movement in the West Bank “to stop the severe violence against Israel in the territories.”
“This is the first time that Barghouthi, along with the heads of the Palestinian security forces, has received an explicit directive to desist from the shooting attacks - at least for now.”
Quoting Israeli senior army officers, the paper said that Arafat’s directives came in response to the intensive diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis.
The newspaper added that sources in the Israeli Army noted that Arafat has not so far, appeared on Palestinian television to issue a public call for an end to the violence.
“There is concern that the many Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists released from prison on Arafat's order will try to booby-trap cars in the territories and blow them up next to soldiers or settlers,” the army sources told the paper – Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
