Despite growing American pressure, it was still unclear Tuesday morning whether Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would allow Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat to travel to the Arab summit in Beirut which starts Wednesday, or even whether the decision would be taken in the course of the day.
Israeli government sources said late Monday night that "the conditions haven't ripened yet" for an Israeli approval for Arafat's trip, and that Israel is sticking to its demand, as presented to U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney, for Arafat to declare in his own voice, and in Arabic, a cease-fire and the start of the Tenet work plan process, Haaretz reported. Another Israeli condition for Arafat's trip is that no major attack would take place before his departure.
Israel Radio reported Tuesday that the security cabinet would convene Tuesday to discuss the truce mission of U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni, but that Arafat's trip to the Arab summit was not on the agenda.
Sources in Washington said Monday, however, that U.S. President George Bush would personally contact Sharon to ask that Arafat be allowed to attend the summit.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Monday that Washington believes Israel should "seriously consider" allowing Arafat to go. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the same to Sharon in a phone conversation. Powell also spoke with Arafat, pressing him to give an "unequivocal order and start acting on the ground."
According to senior Palestinian sources, the U.S. pressure to allow Arafat to attend the summit is based on Washington's interest in seeing the summit focus on the Saudi initiative, and not on the Palestinian leader's absence.
West Bank security chief Jibril Rajoub told Israel Radio on Tuesday that he was sure Arafat would attend the summit, and he warned that violence would escalate if Israel blocked his departure.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, meanwhile, told the Beirut daily A Nahar that he would advise the Palestinian leader not to attend the summit because the likelihood was that Sharon would not allow him to return, and that he would exploit Arafat's absence to destroy Ramallah, which Mubarak referred to as the last Palestinian center in the West Bank.
U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni's cease-fire talks with senior Israeli and Palestinian security officials lost momentum on Monday after Palestinian officials canceled a meeting and said no session would be held on Tuesday.
A senior Palestinian official said senior negotiators would have talks with Zinni on Tuesday to discuss Palestinian concerns that his bridging proposal had diverged from a cease-fire agreement drawn up by CIA Director George Tenet last year. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
