GAZA, 28 February 2005 — Israel yesterday froze the peace process with Palestinians and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatened retaliation for Friday night’s Tel Aviv attack if the Palestinian leadership does not crack down on militant groups.
At a Cabinet meeting, Israel decided to freeze gestures agreed on at a summit in Egypt on Feb. 8, where Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a truce to end four years of bloodshed — turning control of five West Bank towns over to the Palestinians and freeing 400 more prisoners.
At the beginning of the weekly Cabinet meeting, Sharon said Islamic Jihad carried out the bombing on orders from its leaders in Syria. “We know this for certain,”’ he said, but held the Palestinian Authority responsible as well.
“There will be no progress politically, and I repeat, no political progress, until the Palestinians carry out a determined campaign to destroy the terrorist groups and their infrastructure,” Sharon said, warning that if this is not done, “Israel will have to increase its military activities that are meant to protect the citizens of Israel.”
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said he gave Abbas a list of wanted Palestinian militants and requested that the Authority arrest them. “We expect that he (Abbas) will immediately begin making arrests, mainly of Islamic Jihad figures”, Mofaz said.
The Palestinians have detained two persons in connection with the Tel Aviv attack and Abbas has said he remained committed to a truce with Israel and was exchanging information with Israel, the United States and Europe.
“It’s Israel’s decision whether to freeze contacts,” Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei said in response to Sharon’s remarks. “We will not shed tears, but we say that after Sharm El-Sheikh there is a chance (for peace) and we would like to press ahead with this effort,” Qorei said.
Abbas has pursued dialogue with militant groups, arguing that confronting them would cause civil strife.
But Palestinian officials said talks planned with hard-line groups in Cairo to discuss a cease-fire with Israel were postponed for 10 days until March 15 due to the Tel Aviv attack.
Israel would deny travel permits to any Islamic Jihad members seeking to attend the Cairo talks, an official said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom summoned ambassadors from the European Union and member states of the UN Security Council to a meeting today, where he said military intelligence would display proof of Syrian involvement in the bombing. The Foreign Ministry said it would not make the proof public.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shara, who was in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials, denied that Syria was involved in the attack.
Vice Premier Shimon Peres signaled Israel was likely to hold its fire with Syria.
“Syria is involved in many terrible things and the United States is at the moment leading the initiative against Syria. We should allow the Americans to do this,” Peres said.
— Additional input from agencies
