MID-EAST REALITIES © - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 7/05: He's not likely to be stopped now. He's prepared most of his life for this moment in history. And as Israeli Prime Minister for just the past few months he's already visited the American President twice, Downing Street, and now both Germany and France, applauded in public more for his "restraint" as the "new Sharon" rather than for his war criminal past and the neo-apartheid oppression machine he now bears full responsibility for. Shimon Peres is likely to jump ship when the real blood starts flowing, but by that time it will be too late to save anyone other than himself, his personal specialty. Only if Chirac and the Europeans were to cut their ties to Sharon and Israel, and only if the Annan and the U.N. were to impose sanctions and move to suspend Israel from the General Assembly, is it likely the Americans too would be pushed toward taking serious action. If those things were to happen, Sharon the "Bulldozer" might find himself checkmated and not be able to proceed with his plans of even more brutual Israeli subjugation of the Palestinians and cowering of the Arabs. But those things are not likely to happen; and the likely course of events in the weeks and months immediately ahead is one Sharon will dominate.

JERUSALEM -- Associated Press, 5 July: Israelis and Palestinians accused each other of plotting more attacks in violation of a cease-fire, while the U.N. Mideast envoy pleaded Thursday for a "referee" to rule on the conflicting claims.

In Ramallah, a 39-year-old Palestinian was killed during a gunfight between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers guarding Psagot, a Jewish settlement nearby, Palestinians said. Witnesses said Nasser Abed was playing soccer when he was hit by a bullet.

The Israeli military said Palestinians fired on an army vehicle near Psagot, and soldiers returned the fire.

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer accused Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of systematically violating a three-week-old truce.

"While we respect the cease-fire and all the agreements, Arafat doesn't. We have a problem dealing with someone who is waging war against us," Ben-Eliezer said.

While Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made his first trip to Europe since taking office in March, his Cabinet ministers were at odds over how to deal with Arafat.

The Maariv and Yediot Ahronot dailies said that in a stormy session of Israel's security Cabinet on Wednesday, three ministers demanded Israel launch a massive strike against the Palestinian Authority and topple Arafat. Maariv quoted Sharon as telling the Cabinet that it was a mistake to rely on Arafat to prevent attacks on Israelis.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres advocated restraint and came under fire from hard-line ministers, though in the end the Cabinet decided to stick to the truce. However, the ministers reaffirmed the policy of targeted attacks against suspected Palestinian militants.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the targeted killings meant Israel was walking away from the truce. He called Sharon a "professional killer."

Meanwhile, U.N. Mideast envoy Terje Roed-Larsen called for a mediator who could rule on the disputed claims and help advance the U.S.-brokered truce, which proposes a series of steps to revive peace negotiations.

The Palestinians said Wednesday that a seven-day testing period for the truce had been completed, and it was time to move to the next phase, a "cooling off period."

The Israelis say the testing period has yet to begin because of the ongoing violence, Roed-Larsen noted.

"In other words, there are two completely different images of reality here," Roed-Larsen said. "We need a referee who can tell the parties this is the image of reality that we are operating from."

However, the U.N. envoy declined to offer any specific proposals. The Palestinians are seeking greater international intervention, while the Israelis have resisted outside involvement.

Also Thursday, a bomb blast in the southern Gaza Strip wounded two young Palestinians, ages 12 and 14. It was not clear who set off the explosion near the border with Egypt.

In another development, Jewish settlers voluntarily evacuated a small roadside outpost near the Einav settlement in the West Bank. The outpost was established on the spot where an Israeli motorist was killed by Palestinian gunmen last month.

Settlers have seized more than a dozen such sites in recent months. Ben-Eliezer has said the outposts must be dismantled for security reasons, but it was not clear whether the settlers would cooperate in each case.

PARIS, July 5 (AFP) - French President Jacques Chirac on Thursday warned against "weakening" the position of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, saying it would be "counter-productive" in the search for peace in the Middle East.

Chirac's spokeswoman, Catherine Colonna, said that he had made the warning during a one hour meeting between the leaders which she described as "interesting, confident and frank".

UNITED NATIONS -- Associaed Press, 5 July: Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to Israel on Thursday to immediately halt the "targeted assassinations" of Palestinian militants.

In a strongly worded statement issued by his spokesman, Annan said the policy violates international law and "contradicts the spirit, if not the letter, of the cease-fire agreement" brokered by CIA director George Tenet on June 13.

Brushing aside U.S. criticism, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his closest advisers said Tuesday that Israel would stick to its policy of tracking down and killing suspected Palestinian militants in a bid to prevent Palestinian attacks that have persisted despite the truce.

A senior Palestinian official, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, called the Israeli policy "the biggest violation" yet of the faltering Mideast cease-fire.

"The secretary-general is deeply disturbed by the reported decision of the government of Israel to continue the practice of what have become known as 'targeted assassinations,'" Annan's statement said. "This policy is contrary not only to international law, in particular human rights law, but also to general principles of law."

If Israel's practice of "targeted assassinations" isn't halted, Annan said, "it is bound to further aggravate the crisis of confidence between the parties and make an already extremely fragile situation even more precarious."

The secretary-general, who has played an increasingly important role in trying to promote a restoration of the Mideast peace process, reiterated that "there is no alternative to a political settlement of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians."

Mid-East Realities

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Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2001/7/267.htm