Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres will meet Tuesday with the Palestinian Authority's newly-appointed Finance Minister Salam Fayed and Interior Minister Abdel Razaq Yehiyeh, in a meeting which has the blessing of both Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
The three ministers will review means of easing conditions for the residents of the West Bank, currently under Israeli control, and the renewal of joint security arrangements, Israel Radio reported.
Sources in Jerusalem said that Sharon has not placed any restrictions on Peres' meetings with Palestinian ministers, and the foreign minister can meet with whomever he wishes, with the exception of Arafat himself.
"The limitations on Arafat were put in place by [U.S.] President Bush," the sources said.
Tirawi
Confusion swirled over reports that Yasser Arafat had sacked his West Bank intelligence chief.
Two senior Palestinian officials close to Arafat said he had signed a decree dismissing West Bank intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi, whom Israel accuses of masterminding "terror" attacks.
But the news was immediately challenged by Amin al-Hindi, the intelligence chief for all the Palestinian territories, who vehemently denied it and denounced the information as a pack of lies. "This is completely false. Tirawi is still head of Palestinian intelligence in the West Bank," Hindi said in a statement, quoted by AFP. "This information is part of a propaganda campaign."
Tirawi himself also slammed the report as "incorrect news that is completely untrue". The reports said that Tirawi has been replaced by his assistant, Sami Abdul Majeed.
The Israeli General Staff has reached the conclusion that Arafat's stature is dropping so precipitously that there is no need for Israel to push him out of the territories, an Israeli newspaper reported.
This analysis, following President George W. Bush's speech, has been presented to the political echelon. It says Arafat's prestige has been so damaged that there is no need for action on Israel's part to expel him. A senior military source told Ha'aretz that "chances are increasing that within six months, Arafat's standing will have declined so much that he won't be able to prevent a new, pragmatic leadership from emerging, which will lead the Palestinians to a compromise with Israel."
Incidents
In Nablus, a Palestinian man was critically injured Sunday when a bullet from an Israeli tank hit him in the face as he tried to enter the town from surrounding villages during a brief lifting of the curfew, Palestinian medics said.
And a Palestinian child from the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya died from a bullet wound received last month when Israeli forces opened fire in the town, his family said.
In another development the Israeli army admitted in a statement that troops had opened fire near Netzarim, south of Gaza City, where a Palestinian mother and her two-year-old daughter were killed the day before. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
