OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 12 May — Israel held back a threatened invasion of the Gaza Strip yesterday as the European Union tried to thrash out the final destination of 13 Palestinian exiles now in Cyprus.
The European Union’s Middle East envoy, Miguel Moratinos, said 13 Palestinian fighters released from Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity and flown to Cyprus on Friday for exile abroad would leave for third countries as free men. Israel has said it might still seek the extradition of the men. Moratinos said, after meeting the men confined to a seaside hotel in Larnaca, that they were awaiting “final offers” of exile from EU countries, hopefully by tomorrow.
Palestinian leaders rejected any handover of the 13, who withstood an Israeli siege of the church along with 26 other fighters who were sent to Gaza, saying Israel had no evidence the men had done anything aside from fighting occupation.
The Palestinian envoy to Cyprus, Samir Abou Ghazaleh, dismissed Israeli stand, saying: “I cannot imagine a situation where a murderer, and those administering the massacres in Jenin, are asking to extradite our own citizens.”
Israel said it had shelved the attack on the Gaza Strip as the army had lost the element of surprise and could lose more soldiers than would like to. A senior Israeli political source said the main reason for the delay in action in Gaza was that Palestinian fighters wanted by Israel had gone underground after army officers spoke about the operation to the media. But Israeli troops and tanks massed around Gaza stayed put.
But there were growing signals that it was US influence that had been brought to bear, not leaks of invasion strategy that led to the plans being toned down. Israeli daily Haaretz ran a story on Friday quoting senior security sources as saying the Gaza operation “could be called off at the last minute after American pressure on both sides.” In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer appeared to sound a note of caution Thursday about a Gaza attack, saying “Israel has to be very mindful of its responsibilities to protect peace in the region and work toward a vision of peace.”
