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January 18, 2002/5 Shevat 5762, Vol. 54, No.18
Zinni peace mission on hold
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israel's seizure of the Karine A weapons ship earlier this month could prove to be a turning point in the Jewish state's relations with the Palestinian Authority - if the United States allows it.
After a week exploring the ramifications of the arms shipment from Iran to the Palestinian Authority, the State Department has returned to business as usual, preparing for another peacekeeping mission by envoy Anthony Zinni.
It remains unclear exactly when Zinni will return to the Middle East. Yet the fact that he is expected back soon concerns some Israel supporters upset both by the weapons found on the Karine A and the Palestinian Authority's apparent cooperation with Iran and Hezbollah in obtaining them.
State Department officials say Zinni will seek an end to Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.
That bloodshed continued this week.
On Jan. 16, an Israeli Arab was killed in a shooting attack in the West Bank.
A day earlier, two Israelis were killed in separate shooting attacks just outside Jerusalem.
Later in the day, Palestinian gunmen attacked two Israelis in a car at a gas station just north of Jerusalem in the West Bank.
That followed violence Jan. 14 in which a leading Palestinian terrorist, Raed Karmi, was killed by a bomb in the West Bank city of Tulkarm. Palestinians blamed Israel, which refused to comment but noted that Karmi was responsible for killing at least seven Israelis in terrorist attacks.
In retaliation, gunmen from Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Fatah Party shot and killed an Israeli soldier and wounded another in the West Bank.
On Jan. 15, the chief of staff of the Israeli army, Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, told a Knesset committee that Arafat's agreement with Hamas and Islamic Jihad not to attack Israel had been canceled - and that Iran had ordered new terror attacks. Mofaz warned the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the Palestinians have smuggled rockets into the West Bank, and may use them against Israeli population centers and airports in the near future.
Still, the Bush administration said it would continue to work for peace.
"We are going to continue to work with the parties in the absence of conclusive evidence that one or the other has abandoned a peaceful pursuit as their central objective," a State Department official said.
But some say the Bush administration is returning to diplomatic gestures too soon after the startling capture of the weapons shipment, without the Palestinian Authority facing any significant consequences.
Based on Israeli evidence presented last week, Bush administration officials have concluded that the 50 tons of weapons seized in the Red Sea were headed for the Palestinian Authority, and that the Palestinians planned the operation together with Iran and Hezbollah.
Israel says the evidence clearly implicates Arafat. For one, he keeps such tight control over the P.A.'s purse strings that it is inconceivable that $10 million or more could be spent on weapons without his knowledge, Israeli officials said.
The Bush administration, however, still stops short of linking the shipment directly to Arafat.
That reflects policy differences between Jerusalem and Washington.
Israel last month declared Arafat "irrelevant" because of his impotence or complicity in the face of Palestinian terror, and Sharon labeled him Israel's "bitter enemy" after the Karine A was caught.
Israel has not opposed Zinni's return, however, as the government hopes to reach a short-term cease-fire and, possibly, a long-term resolution of the Palestinian intifada.
A State Department official cautioned that sending Zinni to the region should not be seen as a reward for Arafat.
Further adding to the pressure to send Zinni is a feeling that the United States has no alternative. Canceling his mission would appear to confirm that the Palestinian Authority can't or won't control terrorism and that Arafat is not a peace partner - leaving the United States with no one to talk to among the Palestinians until, eventually, an alternate power center emerges.
For now, American Jewish officials are comforted by the delays in Zinni's return, which some say shows that the Bush administration is assessing Arafat's role in the weapons shipment.
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