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August 23, 2002/Elul 15 5762, Vol. 54, No. 49
Israeli army withdraws
NAOMI SEGAL
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Anyone wishing to check just how low Israeli-Palestinian trust has sunk need only look at this week's agreement on a gradual Israeli troop withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem.
Even a year ago, with the Palestinians demanding a complete Israeli withdrawal to positions held before the intifada began, a plan for a withdrawal from just two areas would have been considered laughable.
Yet this week, people were hoping against hope that even a modest agreement might finally herald a return to brighter times.
Finalized at a Tel Aviv meeting the night of Aug. 18 between Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Palestinian Authority Interior Minister, Gen. Abdel Razak Yiheyeh, the plan calls for Israeli troops to gradually pull back from Palestinian areas.
Israel originally had wanted to withdraw only from the Gaza Strip, but gave in to Palestinian demands and included a West Bank city, Bethlehem, in the mix.
Even as skeptics were crying that the plan would never work, Israel pulled all of its troops out of Bethlehem on Aug. 19. They remained surrounding the city and manning roadblocks in the area.
The agreement was tested by incidents throughout the week.
On Aug. 21, Israeli troops tore down abandoned buildings in the Gaza Strip that the army said provided cover for Palestinian gunmen.
Palestinians said one person was killed and four injured in the Israeli operation the night of Aug. 20 in Khan Younis.
The army said the operation was in response to the killing in the Gaza Strip, earlier in the day, of Israeli soldier Kevin Cohen, 19, of Petach Tikva, by a Palestinian sniper.
A Palestinian youth, 15, also was killed in the firefight.
In the West Bank, Israeli troops operating in the Ramallah and Nablus areas detained three wanted Palestinians for questioning.
In another development, the Al-Aksa Brigade of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement vowed to carry out "massive attacks" to mark the first anniversary of the killing of its commander, Yasser Badwi, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Also on Aug. 21, Israel arrested a Hamas cell believed responsible for several suicide bombings, including one July 31 at Hebrew University. The men, eastern Jerusalem residents whose Israeli ID cards allowed them to travel the country freely, also are believed to be behind the Caf‚ Moment bombing in March that killed 11 people.
In total, they are considered responsible for 35 deaths, including five Americans killed in the university bombing.
Just the same, senior Israeli and Palestinian security officers were due to meet Aug. 28 to consider extending a truce plan to the West Bank city of Hebron. An Israeli security source said implementation of the cease-fire plan in Hebron would depend on calm there, Israel Radio reported.
After the Aug. 20 shooting of the soldier in Gaza, Ben-Eliezer said he had warned the Palestinians that the agreement was in danger.
"I told senior Palestinian officials about what happened and said, 'If you don't take care of it, we will,' " Ben-Eliezer said. "If they want to live in peace, if they want to live in prosperity, if they want to open our gates to work in Israel ... it is up to them."
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and even the military wing of Arafat's Fatah have said they will not honor any cease-fire, and will continue attacking Israel.
A Defense Ministry statement said that a withdrawal was contingent on the Palestinians taking "responsibility to calm the security situation and reduce violence."
The Palestinians will assume responsibility for security in the areas as the Israeli army evacuates.
In addition, Israel is to lessen restrictions on Palestinian civilians, and local commanders on both sides would meet in coming days, while Ben-Eliezer would continue to monitor the discussions.
After the seemingly endless violence of the past two years - which has almost removed the term "breakthrough" from the political lexicon - many see the "Gaza/Bethlehem First" plan as the best hope for restarting a political process.
Ben-Eliezer called the plan the most "real" of recent proposals, because the sides are proceeding "step by step."
Israeli media speculated that the move was a photo-op aimed at boosting Ben-Eliezer's political chances if he runs for prime minister in elections that might be moved up to January 2003.
After the withdrawal, Haj Ismail, a Palestinian security commander, arrived in Bethlehem to begin preparations to reduce the violence. Earlier that day, a 13-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli tank fire near the West Bank city of Jenin.
On the morning of Aug. 20, an armed Palestinian was killed and another was injured in an exchange of fire between Israeli troops and Palestinians in the Tulkarm refugee camp. The army said the dead Palestinian was a senior member of Fatah's Tanzim militia who was involved in several terror attacks, including dispatching suicide bombers to Israel, Israel Radio reported.
Israeli troops also found a cache of 25 pipe bombs in a building near the West Bank city of Jenin.
In Ramallah, Israeli troops killed the brother of Ahmed Sa'adat, the secretary general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Ahmed Sa'adat is being held in a Palestinian jail in Jericho for planning the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi last October.
The soldiers entered downtown Ramallah to arrest Mohammed Sa'adat, 23, who also is a PFLP member. Mohammed Sa'adat opened fire, wounding two of the soldiers. The troops returned fire, killing Sa'adat, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported.
The PFLP vowed to retaliate.
Jibril Rajoub, the former head of the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Service in the West Bank, said the Palestinian security forces had been devastated by the Israeli military actions in the territories, and wouldn't be able to crack down on terrorists.
Hamas officials said the agreement was an attempt to pacify the Palestinian street ahead of an American attack on Iraq. Islamic Jihad officials called it a "political gamble."
Likud legislator Yuval Steinitz, like other right-wing members of the Knesset, called the agreement a "joke."
"Eight years after the failure of the Oslo process," Steinitz said, "again and again, we are prepared to forgive our enemies."
For a few days this week, though, there was some hope that the worst might be over - but for most Israelis, the hope was faint and guarded.
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