Israelis bar Palestinians from travelling

Israeli authorities today barred 12 Palestinian lawmakers from travelling from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank to attend a parliamentary session discussing democratic reforms sought by Israel and the United States.

The 88-member Legislative Council, the Palestinians’ nascent parliament, is convening tomorrow in the West Bank town of Ramallah in a session expected to discuss sweeping reforms of Arafat’s self-rule authority.

Palestinian officials accused Israel of disrupting the political process by barring some members from travelling from Gaza to the West Bank. Arafat is expected to address the assembly despite intense US and Israeli efforts to sideline him.

Ofir Haham, an official for the Israeli civil administration in the Gaza Strip, said anyone deemed a security risk would not be allowed to travel for the session, though he said the majority would be able to attend.

“I can say that most of them will be able to enter Ramallah,” Haham said.

The council has not had a full session since violence broke out in September 2000, with Gazans prevented from attending by Israeli closures.

For the past two years, only about 30 or so members have been able to attend, and sessions have often resorted to video-conferencing and telephone calls.

Ahmed Queria, the council speaker, said 12 lawmakers were denied permission to travel from the Gaza Strip.

Wajih Yaghi, a 13th lawmaker to whom Israel denied permission to travel today, died more than two years ago, Palestinian officials said.

“Israel by this has proved to the world that they are working to sabotage the Palestinian political process and political institutions,” said Kamal Sharafi, one of the barred Gazan legislators.

“We are representatives of our people, elected by the people and we have the full right to attend the session.”

The council session is expected to discuss a mechanism for holding elections.

A few members also want to raise the issue of electing a prime minister – a step some US officials have suggested as a way to sideline Arafat – but delegates are doubtful the issue will make it on the agenda.

Israel and the US are pushing for sweeping reforms in the Palestinian Authority – created in 1994 as part of the so-called Oslo peace accords – as a way to help end the violence that has torpedoed Mideast peace for the past two years.

Israel has imposed a harsh crackdown in the Palestinian territories aimed at preventing militant attacks after a string of suicide bombings over the summer.

In a rare note of optimism, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said training for a new Palestinian security apparatus – a key demand of Israel and the United States – would begin this month.

“Training and preparation of a new security apparatus will, I estimate, begin during the course of this month,” Sharon told Israeli Army Radio in an interview aired Saturday, the first day of the two-day Jewish New Year holiday. “That’s a beginning.”

But Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, who is also the security chief, said there will be no new security force but rather a “refresher” course for the current forces.

“It will be training for a group of officers and members in the already existing security apparatuses … since they were not able to get any security or military training over the last two years,” Yehiyeh told The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank town of Hebron today, an explosion was heard inside a Jewish settlement. The army said no one was injured and that it was investigating the incident.

Near Hebron in the village of Yatta, the Israeli army arrested five men who local Palestinians said belonged to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement. The army said the five were wanted by Israeli security forces.

About a dozen other Palestinians were also detained as forces searched the village, witnesses said.