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October 31, 2003/Cheshvan 5 5764, Vol. 56, No. 6
Sharon targets terrorists, expands fence
LESLIE SUSSER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JERUSALEM - In the nearly two months since Mahmoud Abbas resigned as Palestinian Authority prime minister, the United States has stepped back from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In the meantime, Israel has adopted a two-pronged policy, taking bold unilateral moves while encouraging Abbas' successor to form a govern-ment with which Israel can negotiate.
In the hiatus following Abbas' departure, the Israeli government has approved the route of the controversial security fence separating Israel from the West Bank; hinted at plans for a second, eastern fence that would cut off the Jordan Valley from the West Bank; stepped up anti-terror military activity and called for bids to build over 300 apartments in disputed areas.
The policy cuts two ways: It begins to impose an Israeli vision of a weakened and truncated Palestinian entity, and it puts pressure on the Palestinians to start nego-tiating in earnest before that vision becomes a reality.
On Oct. 1, Israel's Cabinet approved a route for the security fence that - if all the planned sections even-tually are joined - would include sizable tracts of the West Bank on the Israeli side.
Moreover, in an Israeli television interview last week, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon intimated that, despite American objections to the main fence's route, he was contemplating a second, eastern fence along the Jordan Valley.
That would have major implications: If both fences are built, the entire West Bank would be fenced in and the Palestinians would get no more than 60 percent of the land.
In the aftermath of Abbas' resignation in September, Sharon also stepped up Israel's anti-terrorist cam-paign. Ground forces blew up tunnels in Rafah used to smuggle arms from Egypt to the Gaza Strip, destroying dozens of houses in the process.
In addition, special units killed or detained terrorist leaders in the West Bank, and Israeli fighter planes and helicopters ran operations in Gaza, where a number of civilians were killed and wounded along with the terrorists targeted.
The American response was remarkably low-key, especially after the Oct. 15 Palestinian bombing of a U.S. diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip that killed three Americans. U.S. spokesmen said only that Israel should take into account the con-sequences of its military actions - a sign of American assent, if not endorsement.
In late October, Israel made yet another unilateral move: Despite its commitment to a total freeze on settlement building under the "road map" peace plan, the Housing Ministry called for bids for the construction of 333 apartments in the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shom-ron and in Givat Ze'ev, a Jerusalem neighborhood beyond the pre-1967 border.
Palestinian leaders accused Israel of trying to torpedo the road map. This time the United States was less circumspect in its response, describing the Israeli move as "a provocation" and threatening to deduct the settlement activity's cost from the $9 billion it has promised Israel in loan guarantees.
However, at the same time as he has increased pressure on the Palestinians, Sharon has been making overtures to Ahmad Karia, who has been heading an emergency Cabinet appointed by P.A. President Yasser Arafat.
Moreover, partly to ease what the army calls an "explosive pressure cooker" situation in Palestinian areas and partly to encourage Karia, Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz have decided to ease some of the restrictions on Palestinian movement, despite warnings from security officials that this could enable terrorists to carry out attacks.
Whether the new com-bination of carrot and stick will work remains to be seen. Karia has been studiously avoiding direct contact with Israeli officials, arguing that their embrace of his predecessor hurt Abbas' standing on the Palestinian street.
The key question remains whether the Palestinians can get all the terrorist factions to cease their attacks on Israel. Karia has sent letters to the various terrorist organizations calling for cease-fire talks.
If Karia does get a cease-fire, however, the equation will change. The United States probably will come back into the picture, pressing both parties to take the road map forward. Israel's capacity for unilateral action will be circumscribed, and a second round of talks on the road map will begin.
Leslie Susser is the diplomatic correspondent of the Jerusalem Report.
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