The Palestinians are "starting to move" on arresting hardline Islmaic militants responsible for horrific suicide bombings at the weekend, Israel's deputy defence minister Dalia Rabin-Pelossof told public radio Monday.
"Following international pressure after the series of bloody attacks on Israel, the Palestinians have started to move," said the minister, daughter of assassinated premier Yitzhak Rabin.
"There are some among them who wish to resume talks and we hope that their influence will bear fruit (...) we are waiting for Yasser Arafat to arrest the terrorists, as he did in 1996."
The Palestinian leader carried out mass arrests of Islamic hardliners that year following similar attacks on Israeli targets.
"We are expecting very serious action: effective and not just fictitious arrests, followed by questioning and prosecutions," she said, adding that Israel had submitted a list of Palestinian activists it wants to see arrested.
"If Arafat is incapable or unwilling to manage the situation, we will draw our own conclusions. The entire world is fighting against terrorism, and it is unnacceptable that a leader who aspires to be president of a state can harbour terrorists," Rabin-Pelossof warned – Jerusalem (AFP)
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