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June 15, 2001/Sivan 24, 5761, Vol. 53, No.37
Cease-fire push brings agreement
NAOMI SEGAL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - Israel and the Palestinian Authority have agreed to a U.S. plan for a Mideast cease-fire, but prospects for its success remain murky.
Both sides are skeptical about the "working plan," as it is being called, but they did not want to reject it, knowing it could cost them points in the court of world opinion.
Adding to the problematic forecast, Hamas officials announced that they will not abide by the cease-fire, and another fundamentalist group, Islamic Jihad, called the deal an insult.
Increasingly, however, Israel is holding Arafat and the Palestinian Authority responsible for all violence committed by Palestinians, arguing that as head of the Palestinian government, Arafat bears overall responsibility for actions committed by all Palestinian factions.
Much of the deal's success appears to hinge on the Palestinian Authority's readiness to crack down on the terrorist infrastructure it has allowed to flourish alongside eight years of peace negotiations.
Negotiations had stalled June 12 over two main sticking points: The Palestinian refusal to rearrest some 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists they released from jail shortly after violence began last fall; and a disagreement over whether diplomatic negotiations should resume immediately - as the Palestinians demand - or after the cease-fire is tested during a "cooling-off" period of six weeks to two months, as Israel is demanding.
According to media reports, the proposal calls on Israel to stop attacks on Palestinian Authority targets, withdraw troops to their positions before violence began last September and refrain from reprisals that would hurt Palestinian civilians.
The proposal calls on the Palestinians to arrest terrorists, round up mortars and other illegal weapons, close explosives factories, prevent attacks from Palestinian-ruled territory and refuse haven to terrorists after attacks.
Palestinian officials complain that certain sections of Tenet's proposals go beyond a plan - released last month by an international commission under former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell - to end the violence and renew diplomatic negotiations.
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