The US will present Israel with a plan to expand the observer role of its Tel Aviv-based CIA contingent, in an attempt to calm the latest Palestinian uprising against 34 years of Israeli military occupation, sources told Haaretz newspaper on Saturday.
The plan will be presented to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon by US envoy to the Middle East, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield, on Sunday, they said.
Satterfield is currently on a Middle East tour that has already taken him to Lebanon and Syria.
Diplomatic sources told the paper, meanwhile, that the strategic goal of the seizure of the Orient House - the PLO's unofficial headquarters - and other actions that might take place over the weekend were "to put [Palestinian President] Yasser Arafat into a vise of pressure, so that he won’t be able to move, and he will have no choice but to want to end the violence, the terror and the incitement."
The sources added that Sharon's retaliation passed "just under" the "acceptable" limit to prevent international criticism and pressure for international intervention.
Israel seized the Orient House and attacked several PA bases in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in retaliation for Thursday’s attack, which killed 15 people, 13 Israelis and two tourists, in west Jerusalem.
The diplomatic sources said that if and when negotiations resumed, Israel would consider allowing the reopening Orient House and other institutions on the condition that their use be strictly limited to humanitarian work – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
