Mideast truce top goal of U.S. envoy

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Posted 9:06AM on Sunday, January 6, 2002

JERICHO, WEST BANK - A U.S. envoy was hopeful Saturday he could guide Israelis and Palestinians toward a truce, after Israel said it would further ease West Bank blockades and the Palestinians continued to arrest suspected militants. In Washington, meanwhile, a U.S. official raised the possibility that a 50-ton weapons shipment intercepted by Israel was intended for Hezbollah, Hamas or another extremist group, rather than for the Palestinian Authority, as Israel claimed. Israeli officials said the crew was led by Palestinian naval police and had confessed that the arms were to have been delivered to the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority denied any links to the shipment, which included Iranian-made rockets and anti-tank missiles. The U.S. envoy, Anthony Zinni, met Saturday with Palestinian negotiators and said he would chair a meeting Sunday of Israeli and Palestinian security officials. Zinni is pushing both sides to implement a truce plan drafted last year by CIA chief George Tenet. Under the plan, Israel is to lift its sweeping travel bans on Palestinians and pull back troops to positions they held before fighting broke out in September 2000. The Palestinians are required to go after suspected militants and prevent attacks on Israelis. Israel eased restrictions before Zinni's arrival in the region Thursday, pulling back tanks from some Palestinian areas and opening some roads in the West Bank. ``The moves to ease the situation of the Palestinian population will continue,'' Israeli government spokesman Arnon Perlman said Saturday. In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Palestinian security officials announced Saturday that they arrested a leading activist in the militant Islamic Jihad group. The suspect, Fawaz Khlayef, was involved in shooting attacks on Israelis, the officials said. Zinni said he believed the two sides were moving in the right direction. ``I'm hopeful. I'm encouraged,'' Zinni said after meeting with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in the West Bank town of Jericho on Saturday. Once a truce is in place, the two sides are to follow a plan by an international commission, headed by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, for returning to peace talks. Israel would have to freeze settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza, while the Palestinians would have to dismantle militant groups. However, Zinni said that for now, security was his focus. ``We are going to start with security issues, and that's the beginning point,'' Zinni said. ``We will get those other issues when the time is ready.'' Zinni is ending his four-day mission Monday, and Palestinian officials said he was expected to return to the region Jan. 18 to evaluate progress. His mission was overshadowed by the controversy over the weapons shipment. Israeli naval commandos seized the cargo ship on Thursday in the Red Sea, hundreds of miles from Israel's shores. Israeli army chief Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz said the captain and three sailors were members of the Palestinian naval police. Raanan Gissin, an aide to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said one of the Palestinians on board had been trained by the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah. A U.S. official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was not clear yet who the intended recipients were. ``There's a possibility these weapons were headed for Hezbollah, Hamas or other extremist groups. That's been the pattern in the past when ships like this have been seized,'' the official said. Gissin said the crew told their Israeli interrogators the munitions were to have been delivered to the Palestinian Authority in the Gaza Strip. The arms were to have been lowered into the water in plastic containers which would be towed ashore by Palestinian fishing boats, he said. A military spokesman said the suggestion that the arms were destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon does not make sense. ``Hezbollah has no need for such a complex smuggling operation. Its arms are delivered by Iran through Syria,'' said Lt. Col. Olivier Rafowicz. Erekat said Israel made the accusations in bad faith. He said Arafat had ordered an investigation, and invited U.S. officials to participate. In a meeting with Arafat on Friday, Zinni ``expressed our strong condemnation of any attempt to escalate the conflict in the region by militant groups or others,'' said U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. Gissin said the interception fueled Israeli suspicions that Arafat was preparing for a new round of armed conflict. ``The Palestinian Authority must decide that it wants to go toward a cease-fire and peace, and not to build up its forces for ... the next round,'' Gissin said.