Israel: Go, Arafat, But Don't Come Back
Israel will not allow Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to return to the West Bank if he leaves the area, a senior Israeli official said Monday.
Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the Palestinians have approached Israeli authorities about the possibility of Arafat attending international conferences.
"He's free to leave, but he's not free to come back," Gissin said the Palestinians were told.
"We have considered Arafat irrelevant for some time, and many in the world are realizing that, too," Gissin said. "If he were not here, perhaps the Palestinians could choose a new way and a new leadership."
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat called Sharon's stand "despicable" and accused him of sabotaging peace efforts.
Israel charges that Arafat is responsible for nearly two years of Mideast violence by encouraging militants to attack Israel and failing to crack down on extremist groups. Palestinians counter that Israel has neutralized Arafat's security forces in the West Bank, and charge that the Israeli occupation and army operations in Palestinian areas are behind the violence.
With few exceptions, Arafat has been confined to his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah all year by Israeli forces, with tanks surrounding or entering his compound and controlling the area.
Meanwhile, Israel's defense minister has ordered a speedy investigation into the army's killing of 12 Palestinians, including at least eight civilians, over a period of four days.
The minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, appointed a general to head the inquiry. He asked the army chief, Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, to present by Friday "operative findings to prevent such unfortunate mishaps in the future."
Erekat demanded that soldiers responsible for killing civilians be brought to justice, but said that based on previous inquiries, he did not believe the investigation would lead to disciplining soldiers.
"The calls for an investigation are meant for media consumption because we have never heard of any result of these panels created after the killing of Palestinian civilians," said Erekat. "We place full responsibility on the Israeli government for these crimes and this bloodletting."
The Israeli government also had pressure from within by politicians calling for an investigation.
"There must be no impression of indifference to human life. Hurting the guilty hurts terror, but hurting the innocent increases terror," said Ephraim Sneh, Israeli Transport Minister and a member of the Labor Party, in an interview on Israel's Army Radio.
Also Monday, an Israeli source confirmed a report in the Israeli daily Haaretz that between 150 and 200 al Qaeda operatives, including several senior commanders, have settled in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in Lebanon, with Syria's permission.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the report and said the information came from Israeli and Western intelligence services. But Lebanese security officials denied there were al Qaeda activists in the refugee camp.
The recent killings of Palestinian civilians by army fire have sparked debate in Israel over the use of force, and Yaalon, who was appointed army chief less than two months ago, has come under criticism.
In interviews and speeches, Yaalon has described Palestinian militants as a cancer-like threat to Israel's existence, and said Israel must win the war against them at all costs if it wants to maintain its deterrence.
Ben-Eliezer, meanwhile, has apologized for the killings of civilians in recent days, including a 6-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy and two teen-agers.
Several Palestinian officials demanded an end to recent Israeli-Palestinian security talks on a gradual cease-fire.
Ben-Eliezer's order that the investigation be finished before the weekend was interpreted as a sign of his displeasure with Yaalon's performance. Israeli officials, including President Moshe Katsav, urged the army to investigate the deaths.
The Islamic group Hamas is responsible for a series of suicide bombings in Israel that have killed hundreds of civilians in the past two years.
In another development Monday, Hana Siniora, a Palestinian Christian newspaper publisher and a long-time supporter of non-violent protest, said he was appointed to be the Palestinian Authority's new representative in Washington. He said he would officially begin his posting in October and would focus on improving tattered Palestinian-American relations.