Sharon scales back peace goals
After 10 months of violence, Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he does not believe a full peace is possible with the Palestinians and is aiming for less.
Meanwhile Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has accused Sharon’s Government of plotting to escalate the conflict.
Violence continued yesterday with Palestinians aiming mortar shells at Jewish settlements in Gaza and firing rifles and grenades at Israeli army positions, the Israeli military said.
Israeli tanks shelled residential areas in central Gaza and moved about 800 yards into Palestinian-controlled territory, Palestinian security officials said.
No injuries were reported. Israeli military sources said a tank chased the Palestinians who were firing the mortars.
Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles also entered Palestinian territory in two other places in Gaza, Palestinian security officials said. The incursions followed Palestinian gunfire and mortar attacks.
Yesterday a Palestinian security court in the West Bank city of Nablus condemned Ahmed Abu Issah, 50, to death by firing squad for collaborating with Israel.
He was the third Palestinian sentenced to death this week for helping Israel kill militants. Arafat must endorse the sentences before they can be carried out.
Three other suspected collaborators were shot and killed near their homes this week, and Arafat’s Fatah group took responsibility.
Speaking at a military graduation ceremony outside Tel Aviv, Sharon said Israel would continue to hit militants, a reference to a policy of targeting suspected Palestinian activists.
On Tuesday, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at Hamas headquarters in Nablus, killing eight people, including a top official of the radical Islamic group responsible for many bombing attacks inside Israel.
‘‘We will continue to strike daily at terrorists and those who send them,’’ Sharon said.
Returning from talks in Rome, Arafat claimed Israel had made ‘‘a decision of escalation’’, pointing to the tank incursion in central Gaza and killing of militants.
Earlier, after meeting Government leaders and Pope John Paul II, Arafat said:
"From Rome, I call to stop all forms of violence, including bombardments, and (for) the dispatch of international observers immediately.’’
Sharon said Israel must lower its sights in negotiations with the Palestinians. ‘‘A clear-eyed outlook of the continued state of animosity,’’ he said, ‘‘demands a different approach than the one we have tried so far with the Palestinians’’.
Israel and the Palestinians signed their first interim accord in 1993, a framework with a timetable for negotiating a full peace treaty.
However, talks broke down in January, because of deep disagreements over core issues like the future of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees. Fighting erupted at the end of September.
Sharon said his aim now is ‘‘gradual progress based on interim agreements with the long-term goal of reaching a state of non-belligerence’’.
Palestinians have said that they are not prepared to negotiate another partial accord with Israel.
In any event, Sharon has said repeatedly that there can be no negotiations until all violence ends, blaming the Palestinians for failure to implement a ceasefire negotiated by CIA director George Tenet last month.
