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March 22, 2002/Nisan 9, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 27
Cheney talks of possible meeting with Arafat
JESSICA STEINBERG
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - The United States is offering Yasser Arafat the inducement of his highest-level meeting yet with a Bush administration official, but in doing so is putting the ball squarely back in the Palestinian leader's court.
Vice President Dick Cheney said he would be willing to meet with Arafat as soon as next week - on condition that the Palestinian Authority president begins to fulfill steps demanded of him to effect an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire.
That comes as Israeli and Palestinian security officials met March 20 in Tel Aviv to try to arrange a cease-fire - despite a Palestinian suicide bombing in northern Israel that killed seven Israelis and wounded more than 30 on the morning of March 20.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility. The Palestinian Authority denounced the "operation," saying that terrorist attacks inside Israel proper might annoy "world public opinion."
The statement said nothing about attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which continued on March 20, with Israeli cars attacked near Nablus and Hebron.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Arafat had done nothing to curb Palestinian attacks.
"What we are seeing is that Arafat has not strayed from his policy of terror, at this stage," Sharon said.
Despite the escalation, there was speculation that Israel and the Palestinian Authority might declare a cease-fire after security officials met March 20 with U.S. peace envoy Anthony Zinni.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said chances were good that a cease-fire could be arranged with the Palestinians, but it was unlikely to be "comprehensive or hermetic."
That echoed comments from Israeli security officials, who told the Security Cabinet on March 20 that Arafat was uninterested in halting the conflict with Israel and that the violence would continue for a long time.
The officials concluded that Arafat still sought to achieve diplomatic gains - including sovereignty over parts of Jerusalem and concessions on the return of Palestinian refugees - through violence.
If so, that might jeopardize his chances for a meeting with Cheney, who infuriated Palestinian leaders by refusing to meet with Arafat during his 24-hour visit to Israel.
At the end of his visit, however, Cheney held out the possibility of a meeting if Arafat finally began to take action against terror.
"I want to emphasize how important it is for Arafat to achieve a cease-fire this week," Cheney said at a news conference with Sharon on March 19.
There were several incidents of violence during Cheney's visit, including an attack on an Israeli army post in the Jordan Valley, in which one officer was killed and three soldiers wounded.
On March 18, Israel began pulling out of Bethlehem and Beit Jalla as well as the northern Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Israeli troops killed three armed Palestinians in two separate incidents in Gaza.
The decision to withdraw from the Palestinian areas came after meetings between Israeli and Palestinian security officials March 17.
Those discussions were followed by a meeting of a high-level Israeli-Palestinian-U.S. security committee in Jerusalem on March18, mediated by Zinni.
At a news conference March 19, Cheney said, "We've discussed ways of ending the terror in this region and opportunities to advance ways of achieving a cease-fire. "The U.S. will do whatever it can," he said.
Sharon said that he would allow Arafat to travel to Beirut for an Arab summit next week if the Tenet plan is implemented. However, he hinted, Arafat might not be allowed back to the West Bank if he delivers a speech at the summit that incites violence against Israel.
The summit is expected to focus on a Saudi plan that calls on the Arab world to normalize ties with Israel if Israel withdraws from all the territory it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.
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