OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 22 November — The Palestinian Authority warned yesterday that the diplomatic effort unveiled on Monday by US Secretary of State Colin Powell is doomed to failure if Israel continues to demand a violence-free week before implementing the new truce-to-talks plan.
Israeli commandos themselves were engaged in their own periodic violence yesterday when they seized a Palestinian policeman and his brother in a West Bank village, adding to pressures facing a new US peace mission to the Middle East.
Security sources said the army had been ordered to hold on to its positions for now in the West Bank town of Jenin despite US calls for a complete withdrawal from Palestinian-ruled areas reoccupied last month. In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian man died of a heart attack after soldiers at a checkpoint blocked an ambulance rushing him to a nearby hospital, Palestinian medical officials said.
The latest developments underlined the problems facing two US mediators — Assistant Secretary of State William Burns and Retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni — expected to arrive next week to seek an end to nearly 14 months of bloodshed. Several earlier US-brokered cease-fire deals have failed to take root.
The commando raid on the Palestinian-ruled village of Kufr Al-Labad near the West Bank city of Tulkarm targeted two men — Samer Kayed, a 24-year-old policeman, and his brother Samir, a 19-year-old. A statement from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said both were suspected of “terrorist activity” and had been taken away for interrogation. It said Samer Kayed was a member of the Hamas and that weapons and military equipment were found when the two were arrested in their homes.
Palestinian officials denied either belonged to Hamas. “This is an arbitrary action,” Izz Al-Din Al-Sharif, governor of the Tulkarm area, said. “Sharon and his government do not have a peace plan as long as they are kidnapping and assassinating Palestinians and entering our areas.”
Violence has continued since Powell’s Middle East policy speech in which he repeated calls for a two-state solution and urged both sides to work toward a lasting cease-fire.
Palestinians and Israelis welcomed the new US peace mission, which is based on proposals by an international panel led by former US Senator George Mitchell. But Palestinian Cabinet Minister Nabil Shaath said Israel’s demand for a seven-day period of total calm could derail the diplomatic initiative before it even gets under way.
“This is exactly the Israeli trick to torpedo any return to the peace process,” he told Reuters. “Even if one single bullet is fired in the air, Israel will consider it an operation and take it as an excuse and say quiet was not achieved.”
Israel said its army was not ready to leave the last of six Palestinian towns, despite a lull in the violence. “We cannot pull back at this stage as we had wanted, because we have on hand detailed information of threats and preparations in Jenin for suicide attacks,” Defense Ministry spokesman Yarden Vatikai said.
