Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres warned Sunday that if Prime Minister Ariel Sharon blocked his planned meeting with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat at Gaza Airport, the step would trigger "severe consequences for the government coalition."
Peres made the statement to Shas Party leader Eli Yishai at a weekly cabinet session.
It was convened at the request of the latter and far-right National Union Party, said Israel’s Army Radio, cited by the Jerusalem Post newspaper.
Both demanded that the inner cabinet convene to decide whether the Peres-Arafat meeting could take place, it said.
Israeli Housing Minister Natan Sharansky told Radio Israel earlier in the day that there would be no meeting between Arafat and Shimon Peres.
Meanwhile, Israeli Industry and Trade Minister Dalia Itzik, a Labor Party leader, said she and her colleagues would throw their weight behind Peres if necessary.
If the meeting is called off, "All of us - to a man - are out of the coalition," Itzik told Army Radio.
"If Shimon Peres is humiliated in any manner, we will allow nothing to come between us and Shimon Peres," Itzik said.
A high-level Palestinian official said earlier that the much-delayed meeting to try to work out a ceasefire would be held at Gaza City's international airport at 5:00pm (1400 GMT), according to AFP.
In Peres' office Saturday, there was talk of the "great efforts that Arafat and the Palestinian Authority were making to stop terrorism and in preventive actions."
Defense Minister Benjamin Ben Eliezer seemed to echo those words when he said that he saw "a clear trend toward an end to the violence" on the part of the Palestinians.
Sharon was slightly more skeptical when he told US Secretary of State Colin Powell that preparations were being made toward holding the meeting, but that it all depended on whether the ceasefire held.
Ben Eliezer has handed Peres a defense establishment document which includes a series of demands from Arafat, including a complete ceasefire as well as PA action against “terror,” in exchange for an easing of the blockades on West Bank cities and the lifting of economic restrictions.
If Peres and Arafat do meet, then the two will release a joint statement which was drafted at a meeting Saturday between Peres and leading Palestinian negotiators Abu Ala and Saeb Erekat in Tel Aviv.
According to Haaretz, citing Israeli sources, these are the main points of the anticipated joint communiqué:
* A commitment to the cease-fire and the implementation of the Tenet understandings (security measures) and of the Mitchell Report (gradual movement toward a renewal of the diplomatic negotiations).
* Redeployment of the Israeli army to positions held before the outbreak of the Intifada a year ago.
* Resumption of the joint security coordination committee, headed by a CIA representative.
* An end to incitement.
* Lifting of closures and opening the roads connecting the Palestinian towns.
* Issuing work permits to Palestinians to enter Israel – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
