OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 6 August 2003 — US officials were weighing whether to cut $9 billion in aid to Israel to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to halt construction of a security wall, The New York Times reported yesterday.
Citing officials in US President George W. Bush’s administration, the newspaper reported the cuts would target loan guarantees for housing and commercial projects that were approved by Congress earlier this year. The aid cuts would for the first time represent a confrontational approach by Bush to pressure Sharon into stopping construction of a fence along the West Bank that separates Israelis and Palestinians.
The wall has become a sticking point in the peace process, with the Palestinians complaining it restricts free movement and is meant to pre-empt negotiations over borders for a Palestinian state. Israelis have argued the wall is necessary to prevent militants from entering Israeli territory to carry out attacks.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas yesterday pulled out of talks with Sharon because of a dispute over a prisoner release, dealing a new blow to a US-backed peace plan.
Today’s meeting would have provided a chance to ease rising tension over disagreements that are frustrating efforts to build trust and fueling doubts that a shaky three-month truce announced by militants a month ago will hold.
The meeting was due to coincide with Israel’s planned release of Palestinian prisoners today, a gesture which is intended to boost confidence but has dented it because the Palestinians say not enough inmates are slated for freedom. Straining relations with the Palestinians further, Israel extended its two-year-old closure of Orient House, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s headquarters in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, for another six months.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the move violated the peace road map that calls on Israel to reopen Palestinian institutions it has closed in East Jerusalem, where Palestinians want to establish the capital of a future state.
Israeli authorities had charged that the Palestinian Authority was operating out of Orient House — where diplomatic and social welfare activities were held — in violation of interim peace deals, an allegation denied by the Palestinians.
Commenting on today’s planned prisoner release, the army said 339 would be freed at four West Bank checkpoints and at the Erez border crossing in the Gaza Strip, revising a figure of 342 on an earlier release roster.
Another 99 prisoners would be released in the near future, the army said.
Abbas had talks yesterday in the Gaza Strip with Hamas and Islamic Jihad. “We discussed the issue of the prisoners and it is clear that the Israeli step is disappointing, insufficient and does not serve the security and stability of the region,” said Nafez Azzam, an Islamic Jihad leader. He said the issue of extending the truce was not raised.
