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TITLE: Both Sides Wonder Who's in Charge |
AUTHOR: Amos Harel |
PUB: Ha'aretz |
DATE: April 29, 2001 |
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The mortars that fell on Gush Katif this weekend show how deep runs the misunderstanding between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Only a few days earlier, the newspapers were full of relatively optimistic reports about the progress of dialogue between the security organizations. The security coordination meetings had resumed full steam, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat appeared to be keeping his promise to halt the mortars. The number of shooting incidents was in decline. In the defense establishment some began talking about the first signs of real calm. Against that background, Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer called a session of top security officials on Friday, authorizing at the meeting a far-reaching step aimed for implementing his declared policy of making life easier for those Palestinians who are not involved in the violence: issuing passes into Israel for another 11,000 Palestinian workers. What was the Palestinian response, as far as Israel is concerned? Three mortar barrages on Gaza settlements, and seven wounded, two of whom by mortars. Adding salt to the wounds was the announcement from Fatah that it was responsible for one of the mortar attacks. Not only had Arafat not kept his word, but his own organization was continuing to use mortars against Israelis. But the Palestinian side has a totally different view of events. On the eve of Independence Day the Israeli press barely noticed that four Fatah activists were killed by a bomb in Rafiah. Fatah knows that it wasn't a "work accident" and that Israel is directly responsible for the deaths of its people. Fatah could not but react. From Fatah's point of view, the mortar fire was legitimate, a tit for tat move in response to the Rafiah bomb. The coming days will test the defense minister's intentions. The scandal over the opening of the Jericho casino distracted attention from the significant steps the minister is planning. At his order, and in coordination with the foreign ministry, the Government's Coordinator in the Territories has begun preparing far-reaching plans for economic steps that would reintroduce the semblance of normality in the territories - despite the fighting. This week, the Japanese-financed construction of a new Allenby Bride, will be completed, and when it opens next month, it will be far more efficient a border crossing for both people and goods. The scope of trade will grow. The United States is supposed to step up its involvement in water, sewage and electricity projects in the territories. And along the Green Line, the practice of "back-to-back" transfers of goods from one truck to another, is expanding. Meanwhile, improvements are planned for the Karni junction industrial zone in Gaza. Ben-Eliezer will now discover what Ephraim Sneh, as deputy defense minister in the last government learned. Israeli policy in the territories is conducted with a great deal of confusion. There is no direction from above and no long-term strategy. Under Ehud Barak, many of the punishments imposed on the Palestinian Authority were tactical. Often, main roads - and lately, even a border crossing - were closed at the whim of brigade commanders. The Palestinians refuse to believe that it's not an overall government policy - the closures, the endless waitings, the zig zagging policies in the field - aimed at humiliating them. But along with the army's tough line, there are those inside the Israel Defense Forces who try to moderate the steps. Two weeks ago, the Chief of Staff proposed using F-16s to attack targets in Gaza after a mortar attack. The defense minister preferred to listen to the reservations aired by Military Intelligence Commander Maj. Gen. Amos Malka, who warned that the Americans, Jordanians, and Egyptians would all respond harshly. Despite Fatah's mortars, the defense establishment is losing sleep over Hamas. The latest polls show the group's popularity is rising in the territories, as is the popularity of suicide bombings. The few senior officers swallowed up in the sea of Labor Party activists who attended the defense minister's Independence Day reception, were worried about the possibility of a major Hamas strike. In Hamas's eyes, the group's latest suicide bombings were failures, killing only a few Israelis. The organization appears to be trying to train an engineer capable of building large bombs with improvised means. Osama Bin Laden's interest in the area is also worrisome. The tunnels under the border between Egypt and Gaza (not far from where the four Fatah activists were blown up) can be used to smuggle arms experts, as well as arms. END |