RAMALLAH, 17 January 2005 — The Israeli military received a green light yesterday for a tough crackdown on Palestinians, as the government dismissed a call by the PLO leadership for a halt to attacks on Israelis.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued his directive to the army after a string of Palestinian rocket, mortar and bombing attacks in recent days, saying the Palestinian leadership has failed to take even minimal steps to prevent the violence.
The bloodshed has escalated tensions with the new Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, whose election last week had raised hopes around the world for a breakthrough in Middle East peacemaking. Palestinian officials accused Sharon of undermining Abbas’ fledgling efforts to persuade Palestinians to halt the violence.
After Sharon unleashed his military, the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s Central Committee met to discuss the rising tensions, saying afterward that the fighters were only hurting the Palestinian cause.
The powerful PLO body called on fighters to “stop all the military action that might harm our national goals and give the Israelis an excuse to obstruct Palestinian stability.” Abbas is the head of the committee.
The statement was the PLO’s strongest language against violence since the death of longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Nov. 11. It did not specify, however, what action might be taken against the fighters.
Israeli officials brushed off the statement and said military preparations were continuing. A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, repeated the Israeli stance that Abbas will be judged by his deeds, not his words. Sharon cut off contacts with Abbas after Palestinians killed six Israelis at a Gaza Strip crossing into Israel on Thursday. The attack sparked Israeli reprisals that killed six Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday.
Defying the Israeli offensive, fighters fired homemade rockets Saturday at the southern Israeli border town of Sderot, critically wounding a teenage girl. Two more rockets landed in Sderot yesterday, causing no injuries, and Palestinian mortar fire damaged a home in a Jewish settlement.
Sharon told the weekly meeting of his Cabinet that he has asked the army to do whatever it deems necessary to end the attacks.“Despite the change in the Palestinian leadership, we note that those at the top have not begun any action whatsoever to halt the terrorism,” Sharon told his Cabinet yesterday. — With input from agencies
