WASHINGTON/RAMALLAH, 18 June — President George Bush is expected to recommend that the town of Ramallah be established as the capital of an interim Palestinian state when he announces his Middle East peace proposals later this week.
But while officials say that the West Bank is the most likely option for basing the Palestinian Authority’s infrastructure while negotiations continue, Bush is expected to defer the most three difficult questions facing any permanent settlement — the borders of a future state, the status of Jerusalem and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
With little progress being made in the region toward reaching a deal, there is much expectation surrounding Bush’s anticipated proposals, which he could announce tomorrow having spent the weekend discussing the issue with this national security team. Among those present was his National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice who fueled an angry reaction from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat when she criticized the PA.
Arafat said: “We are implementing only what our people want us to do and we do not take orders from anyone.”
The Palestinian leader also criticized Israel’s building of a $220m security fence along the border with the West Bank, condemning it as an “act of Zionist racism”. He added: “It is a sinful assault on our land, an act of racism and apartheid which we totally reject.”
Meanwhile, Prince Abdullah, the regent, held talks here yesterday with French President Jacques Chirac over telephone and reviewed international efforts to establish peace and stability in the Middle East region.
In other developments, a Palestinian blew himself up near a border police patrol at an Israeli Arab village yesterday, Israel Radio reported.
No one else was killed or injured in the blast outside the village of Mardza, which lies just inside Israel but is close to the West Bank city of Tulkarm. Israeli troops also shot dead a wanted Palestinian in a village west of Bethlehem, Palestinian medical and security sources told AFP. Walid Sbeih, 28, belonging to the Al- Aqsa Martyrs Brigades was shot dead as he was walking near the village of Al-Khadr with West Bank preventive security chief Jibril Rajoub, the sources said.
The Israeli Army, meanwhile, continued its now daily policy of launching incursions into West Bank towns and villages. Several tanks and armored vehicles entered Salfit, north of Ramallah, for four hours overnight, searched homes and arrested two men, Palestinian sources reported. Israeli radio reports said Israeli troops conducted searches in Jenin, sparking gunbattles with armed Palestinians who opened fire and used two explosives devices against them. One Palestinian was killed and several injured in the gunbattles, the reports said. Israeli tanks also rolled into the northern West Bank town of Yamoun, near Jenin yesterday and surrounded and shelled the house of a local Hamas leader, Raed Frehat, Palestinian security sources said. The bombing and the incursions occurred as Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said yesterday that Israel knows of five bombers actively preparing to attack.
An Israeli Defense Ministry spokeswoman denied yesterday that the fence would be a stone barrier similar to the Berlin Wall. She said it would be a metal fence equipped with sensors and other security devices.
On Sunday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat called the security wall “an instrument of (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon for the occupation of our land” and part of his campaign to destroy international peace efforts.
The European Union yesterday added the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade to its terrorist black list, EU officials said.
Meanwhile, an Israeli military court extended West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti’s detention for another 22 days, after first arresting him in mid-April, court sources said.
The court approved the recommendation submitted by Israel’s internal security service, Shin Beth, the sources said at this court in the Tel Aviv suburb of Petah Tiqvah. (The Independent)
