PM okays gestures to PA despite renewed shelling
By Aluf Benn and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents 20 May 2005
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/578321.html

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Thursday
approved a series of gestures to the Palestinians, over the objections of
the Shin Bet security service and despite the continued barrage of mortar
shells in the Gaza Strip.

Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin opposed the proposal on the grounds that there
are too many warnings of terror attacks. But the Israel Defense Forces
supported the decision. At a meeting with Mofaz on Thursday, senior officers
warned that if Israel did not act to strengthen Palestinian Authority
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, "he'll fall, and then we'll have to give more
abatements to Hamas, which will gain power in his stead."

The measures, which will be brought to the cabinet for approval after Sharon
returns from the United States later this month, involve steps that Israel
originally promised at February's Sharm el-Sheikh summit: freeing an
additional 400 Palestinian prisoners, allowing the return of wanted
Palestinians deported to Europe following the standoff at Bethlehem's Church
of the Nativity in 2002, and allowing the return of Palestinians deported
from the West Bank to Gaza.

The U.S. security coordinator, General William Ward, had pressured Israel to
take these steps in recent days. "You complain that the Palestinians are not
fulfilling their commitments," he told his Israeli interlocutors. "But what
about your commitments?"

The decision to approve these steps now is also related to Abbas' planned
visit to Washington Thursday. Thereby, Sharon hopes to deflect Abbas'
expected complaint to U.S. President George W. Bush that Israel is not
helping him.

Sharon approved the gestures despite the ongoing escalation in Gaza.
Palestinians fired at least 14 mortars at the Gush Katif settlements on
Thursday, and four Qassam rockets landed in Israel - including one in the
courtyard of Sderot's municipal offices. The shelling caused property
damage, but no casualties. Palestinians also shot, and launched antitank
missiles, at IDF troops in Gaza.

The IDF did not respond to the shelling, even though the government has
authorized it to respond to mortar and rocket launches, particularly if
Hamas seems to be trying to cause escalation. Israeli intelligence believes
that while Hams does want some escalation in the run-up to new local
elections in Rafah, it also does not want the cease-fire to collapse.
Thursday's shelling, therefore, was not carried out by Hamas, but by other
Palestinian factions - primarily the Popular Resistance Committees, a Fatah
breakaway, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

It is possible that Hamas is financing, or even giving orders for, shelling
by other groups, army sources added, but Hamas leaders seem to want to end
the current round of violence - which is why Israel responded to the
shelling mainly with threats rather than action. Hamas did not even attack,
as the IDF had expected it would, when a Hamas operative wounded by an IDF
air strike Wednesday died of his wounds on Thursday.

Despite the Gaza escalation, the IDF believes that abatements should
continue in the West Bank, because the PA has begun security coordination
with Israel - albeit not against the terrorist organizations. The army
proposes removing roadblocks and allowing more West Bank residents to work
in Israel. It also recommends preparing to hand Qalqilyah over to the PA
once the latter makes progress on collecting weapons from wanted men in the
two cities it already controls, Jericho and Tul Karm.

Weissglas meets Erekat

On Thursday evening, Sharon's advisor Dov Weissglas met with Palestinian
Minister Saeb Erekat and called for an immediate halt to shelling attacks by
Palestinian militants.

Weissglas warned Erekat that if the Palestinians continue shelling Israeli
targets in and around the Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces will respond
harshly.

Palestinian sources said Weissglas told Erekat, however, that the IDF won't
escalate the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The two also agreed in principle to a June meeting between Sharon and
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas

Also on Thursday, a group of Israelis, apparently Breslav Hasidim, visited
Joseph's Tomb in Nablus without coordinating with the IDF. Palestinians
opened fire at them, and the IDF had to rescue them. None of the Israelis
were hurt, and the group is now being investigated by the police.

Minister Haim Ramon met with Palestinian Minister Mohammed Dahlan Wednesday
to coordinate the disengagement from Gaza. Government sources said the talks
were "difficult" and full of mutual recriminations.