Israel Worried About Attempts To "Curb Dahlan's Role"

Asaad Talhami     Al-Hayat     2003/08/25

After Israel officially refused a Palestinian suggestion to sign a new truce agreement which it would co-sign, a high-ranking military official announced that the occupation authorities had decided not to move into Gaza for the time being, in order to give the Palestinian Authority "a last chance" to dismantle the armed infrastructure of the Palestinian factions, echoing a similar American demand. The Israeli ambassador to Washington Daniel Ayalon insisted on the "absolute American support" to the steps decided by the Israeli government in retaliation to the "Jerusalem operation."

The spokesman of the Prime Minister's office, Avi Pazner, described the Palestinian suggestion about holding negotiations to reach a new truce in which Israel would be a party, as "not serious," claiming that if the Palestinian groups are not disarmed first, this would hinder a real cease fire.

The Prime Minister's communications advisor, Raanan Gissin, asserted Israel's refusal to sign a truce, for "it was made clear that truce is killing the Israelis." He added that Israel is concerned about the progress of the negotiations track "however, the Palestinian Authority needs to first execute its commitment stipulated in the Roadmap by wiping out terror, violence and incitement." He threatened that in case that didn't happen, Israel would carry out the mission itself.

In an interview with the Arabic-speaking radio station, he added that the Palestinians will not see an independent state as stipulated in the Roadmap, before "the terrorist infrastructure is destroyed." He considered that Israel kept its commitment stipulated in the map, "while the Palestinians killed 48 Israelis since the truce was announced."

Gissin directed a fierce attack against President Arafat, accusing him once again of being an obstacle to peace, claiming he insists on retaining his power over 60% of the Palestinian security forces, and "is hindering any moves against the terrorist bases." He advised the Palestinians to "get rid" of Arafat as soon as possible.

The Israeli Army Radio reported high-ranking political sources in Tel Aviv saying that Arafat will personally pay the price for another suicide attack in Israel, which could kill many people, and "that the atmosphere is right to take a decision to kick him out of the Palestinian territories, in case another terrorist attack occurs."

Although the station said it was possible that such news could be aimed at "sending Arafat a message to stop hindering the actions of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and his minister Mohamad Dahlan," the president of the political wing at the defense ministry General Aamon Gilead said that they should examine such a suggestion "because Arafat still thinks that terrorism will defeat Israel and will pave the way for its destruction."

Unifying the security bodies

The Hebrew media observed, without concealing its worry, what it described as Arafat's effort to restrain the Minister of Security Affairs Mohamad Dahlan, through suggesting to the Fatah central committee the appointment of Nasser Yussef as a minister of interior "in order to curb Dahlan's role." The media jumped to conclusions speculating that such an appointment would push Abbas and Dahlan to resign. But the Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amro denied in an interview with Army Radio Abbas' intention to resign, admitting nonetheless that there was indeed a real problem facing the Palestinian government in unifying the Palestinian security bodies and bringing them all under the authority of one power. He expressed his hope that the Authority would overcome this crisis. He said that no one would accept the position of minister of interior unless he is granted all the prerogatives over all Palestinian security bodies. He added that Dahlan suffers from his inability to control all these bodies. Amro objected to the Israeli claim saying that President Arafat constitutes an obstacle to peace, stressing that it is impossible to achieve progress in the peace process without the cooperation of Arafat "for we need him at all stages." He pointed out that even the Americans understood, in the past few days, the role that the Palestinian President could play.

Postponing the infiltration into Gaza

Well-informed Israeli sources asserted that the occupation army's decision to postpone entering Gaza was to "grant the Palestinians a last chance to take the required steps against the armed factions," in accordance to an American claim to give Dahlan another deadline to make a move against these factions, after the special U.S. envoy John Wolf presented a detailed plan about the steps that need to be taken against the Palestinian organizations, starting with deploying the Palestinian security forces in Northern Gaza, destroying the tunnels in Rafah, stopping the bombing of Israeli cities with Qassam missiles, and freezing the bank accounts of Hamas and Islamic Jihad.             

The Israeli military official who announced yesterday that the army was postponing its attack on Gaza assured at the same time that the army was getting ready to face the "most dangerous developments," and that he massed his troops around Hebron and Jenin, with the aim of attacking them and carrying out wide scouring operations like they did in Nablus three days ago.

The Hebrew radio station reported Israeli military sources saying that the military moves which the government decided to take following the Jerusalem operation will be implemented at the right frequency and time. Ha'aretz wrote yesterday that there is a ready military plan called Zamharir that would be implemented when the Jewish state feels that the truce has totally collapsed, and that it should re-control all the West Bank and Gaza, which could require calling in the reserve soldiers.