JENIN, West Bank, 14 August 2003 — Palestinian Authority security chief Mohammed Dahlan urged hard-liners yesterday to continue their adherence to a truce a day after twin bombings which left two Israelis dead.
“The Palestinian Authority is interested in continuing the truce and considers that stopping the truce is following (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon’s agenda in continuing the cycle of violence initiated by the Israeli government,” Dahlan said in a statement received here.
“Thus all the Palestinian people have to be responsible and continue respecting the truce. Otherwise the Isralis will use it as an opportunity to worsen the situation in the region.” The attacks on Tuesday in a shopping mall near Tel Aviv and close to the West Bank settlement of Ariel were claimed by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the armed wing of Hamas, respectively.
Hamas political leader Abdul Aziz Al-Rantissi said yesterday the Ariel attack was in retaliation for the killing of one of its members in an Israeli army raid in Nablus on Friday and his group remained committed to the three-month truce announced on June 29.
A spokesman for the Al-Aqsa Brigades said its attack was also in revenge for the death of one of its men in the Nablus raid, while insisting that the group had never agreed to the truce. Dahlan, who has faced calls by Israel to do more to crack down on militant groups, said that his hands were tied in cities such as Nablus, where Israelis are still in control of security.
“We in the Palestinian Authority do not have the control over our cities and cannot provide security guarantees since our cities are still occupied. It is up to Israel to provide security guarantees,” he said. He added that the relative calm since the truce illustrated the limitations of the Israelis trying to impose a security solution. “The Israelis have enjoyed a period of calm thanks to the truce and not due to Israeli security procedures.”
