JERUSALEM, 16 October 2006 — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said yesterday a planned summit with Mahmoud Abbas has been put on hold because of the Palestinian president’s insistence that Israel promise to release large numbers of Palestinian prisoners — the latest setback for US-led efforts to restart peace talks.
Abbas has denied demanding a prisoner release as a condition for a summit. Israel is insisting that before it frees any of the estimated 8,000 Palestinians it is holding, a soldier captured in June by Hamas-linked militants in a cross-border raid must be returned.
Olmert announced late last month that he soon hoped to hold a meeting with Abbas, but the preparations bogged down over the prisoners. “We offered to meet with Abu Mazen, but apparently he is not interested,” Olmert was quoted as telling a Sunday meeting of lawmakers from his Kadima party. “He is conditioning a meeting on the release of prisoners and we will not release any prisoners until (captured soldier) Gilad Shalit is released.”
The official, who attended the meeting, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with reporters.
Meanwhile, vowing not to let the Gaza Strip become a “second Lebanon,” Israel warned yesterday it will step up an offensive that has killed 22 people in three days in a bid to stop rocket fire and arms smuggling.
“Our policy is clear — we will deploy all our efforts to prevent these firings and this contraband,” senior Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad told army radio.
This will include “ground and air attacks on terrorists and their infrastructure,” he added. Israel says that fighters in Gaza are amassing stockpiles of arms smuggled into the impoverished territory through tunnels from neighboring Egypt.
“Hamas, which is reinforcing itself, constitutes a threat to Israel’s security,” Gilad said, referring to the Islamic movement which dominates the Palestinian government. “Our priority is now to make it more and more difficult for the continuation of terrorism.” Defense Minister Amir Peretz already approved a first intensification of Israel’s three-month-plus offensive in Gaza on Thursday after rocket fire from the territory hit his southern hometown of Sderot, wounding three people.
In Amman, Jordan’s King Abdallah yesterday warned visiting Palestinian President Abbas that inter-Palestinian tensions will have negative repercussions on the Palestinian cause. “Time is crucial,” the king told Abbas, according to a statement released by the royal court after the meeting.
The Jordanian king warned the Palestinian leader about “the negative repercussions that further inter-Palestinian tensions will have on the Palestinian cause,” the statement said.
For his part Abbas briefed King Abdallah on “efforts being made to overcome the crisis and set up a (Palestinian) national unity government,” the statement said. “Unfortunately the tensions persist,” Abbas said, according to the statement.
Katsav May Be Charged With Rape
Israeli police told the attorney general yesterday there was enough evidence to indict President Moshe Katsav on charges of rape, sexual harassment and wire-tapping, at the end of a weeks-long probe.
“There is sufficient evidence indicating that in several cases the president carried out acts of rape, forced sexual acts, sexual acts without consent and sexual harassment,” the police said in a statement.
“There is sufficient evidence indicating violation of the law banning wire-tapping by the president,” police said following a meeting with investigators and Attorney General Menachem Mazuz in Jerusalem.
During recent weeks, police had investigated no fewer than 10 complaints of rape and sexual harassment by former Katsav employees during his presidency and before that as agriculture minister.
