Violence Intensifies in Mideast
J E R U S A L E M, Dec. 31, 2000 -- The son of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, ananti-Arab leader, was killed today, along with his wife in a shootingattack in the West Bank, a day after Palestinian leaderYasser Arafat’s Fatah faction called for an intensification ofviolence.
Hours after the ambush-style shooting near a Jewish settlementin the West Bank, a senior member of Arafat’s Fatah faction wasgunned down near his home in the West Bank town of Tulkarem,Palestinians said.
The army had no immediate comment, butPalestinian sources claimed it was an assassination. The dead man,Thabet Thabet, was the secretary-general of Fatah in the Tulkaremarea.
The deaths sent tensions skyrocketing, with both sides bracingfor retaliatory violence. The army and police were beefing upsecurity in parts of the West Bank and in Jerusalem, where theslain settler couple were to be buried later today.
A group calling itself the “Martyrs of the Al Aqsa Intefadeh”faxed a claim of responsibility for the killing of Binyamin ZeevKahane to a Western news agency in Beirut. Its authenticity couldnot be verified.
The group, whose name refers to the holy site central to theIsraeli-Palestinian dispute, has claimed responsibility for severalattacks against Israelis since the current violence broke out inlate September.
Kahane: A Controversial Family
Kahane’s father, Meir Kahane, headed the now-outlawed Kachmovement that advocated expelling Palestinians from the West Bankand Gaza Strip. He was gunned down in 1990 after a speech in NewYork, and a Muslim extremist was later convicted of conspiracy tocommit murder.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak met with his Cabinet today, whichsaid afterward that if the Palestinians do not accept compromiseproposals put forth by President Clinton as a basis for talks,Israel will “take a time out” in the peace process. An outrightPalestinian rebuff of the American plan would likely bring anescalation in the level of violence, the Cabinet statement said.
In the attack on the Kahane family, the army said shots werefired at the car as it passed the Palestinian village of EinYabroud near the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ofra, causing it toflip over and dive into a ditch. His wife Talia also died and fivechildren were injured, one seriously, the army said.
His son Binyamin lived in the West Bank settlement of Tapuah andran a religious school that kept the extremist policies of hisfather alive.
Before the victims were identified publicly, Israeli PrimeMinister Ehud Barak called the shooting was a “grave attack” andsaid that due to such violence, reservations among Israeli securityofficials will be included in Israel’s list of proposed amendmentsto an American peace plan.
But Barak said the army does not oppose the government’spersistence in seeking a peace deal. “There of course is not aproblem here of support for the continuation of the peaceprocess,” he told Israel radio.
Three months of hostilities have killed almost 350 people, mostof them Palestinians. With Israel and the Palestinians appearingdeadlocked over terms of a peace plan that President Clinton hassuggested, Fatah called on Palestinians Saturday to step up theirattacks on Israelis.
Arafat’s movement urged its followers and fighters “to make thenext two weeks days of struggle against Israeli soldiers andsettlers.”
“The continuation of the Intifada is the only way, the onlymethod, of achieving independence,” Fatah said in a statement thatspoke of Palestinians’ “utter rejection” of Clinton’s ideas.
Arafat Pulled in Many Directions
While Arafat is under international pressure to accept Clinton’sproposals as the basis for a final peace deal, he faces broaddemands at home to stay with the popular uprising.
Arafat traveled to Tunisia for talks today with TunisianPresident Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, his latest bid to gauge Arabsupport for peace on Clinton’s terms. A key test will come nextweek, when Arab foreign ministers are to weigh in on the peaceplan.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami spoke Saturday with theforeign ministers of Egypt and Jordan and told them Israel acceptsthe basic guidelines of Clinton’s proposals but has somereservations, Ben-Ami’s office said.
Making a final peace push in his last three weeks in office,Clinton is asking the two sides for a trade-off: Israel wouldconcede Arab parts of Jerusalem, including control of Judaism’smost revered holy site.
In turn, Palestinians would scale back demands on the “right ofreturn” for millions of Palestinian refugees and theirdescendants.
Both sides have signaled unwillingness to compromise on thosecrucial points, although Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has notexplicitly ruled out international sovereignty over the disputedholy site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims asHaram as-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary.
Palestinian officials said Saturday that recent days had seenback-channel negotiations in New York with Palestinian and Israeliofficials and U.S. mediators — but that the meetings had ended indeadlock.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he called U.S.mediator Dennis Ross on Saturday to insist his side needed moredetails on the terms of Clinton’s plan before it could respond tohis invitation to peace talks.
“We can’t make a decision on the U.S. proposals since issueslike Jerusalem, the border, security and settlements and refugeesare not clear,” Erekat told The Associated Press.
A leader of Israel’s dovish Meretz party urged compromise,saying one side would have to give ground if the other did:Palestinians on refugees, and then Israel on the sovereignty of theTemple Mount.
“If the leaders don’t take the responsibility to do this, thishistoric chance, which is the greatest opportunity in the historyof both nations, will be missed,” lawmaker Yossi Sarid said.