Israel Points The Finger At Syria
Israel was briefing foreign diplomats Monday on what it said was Syria's role in Saturday's bombing in a Tel Aviv nightclub, which left five people dead and dozens wounded
"We know Syrian intelligence was involved and provided logistical support," a senior source close to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Jerusalem Post.
In other developments:
Legislator Yuval Steinitz, head of parliament's influential Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, said that "the Syrian government harbors these people (Islamic Jihad leaders), with the intention that they will jeopardize or destroy calm, tranquility and the peace process."
Asked whether the Syrian government had encouraged the attack, he said: "Yes. Otherwise they would close the offices (of Islamic Jihad) and throw them out of Syria or Lebanon."
Israel's aim is to put more American pressure on Syria, which is already facing U.S. demands to stop aiding the insurgency in Iraq and to pull out of Lebanon, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger.
"We know that Islamic Jihad has their headquarters in Damascus, so you know, the connection is very clear," said Israeli spokesman Zalman Shoval.
An official Jordanian source told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that Syrian, Jordanian and Israeli officials held secret peace talks in Jordan last week. Another meeting is planned, but no date has been set.
"We believe peace is possible now and we are ready to negotiate with Israel to reach a true and lasting peace based on justice and international legitimacy," Abbas said in the interview.
Spokesman Raanan Gissin said Abbas must dismantle terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
"We are sick and tired of excuses, we need some action," he said.
Demolition would force Israeli troops to spend more time in Gaza, exposing them to possible attack by Palestinian militants for a longer period, and would drive up the price of withdrawal, said Giora Eiland, the head of Israel's National Security Council. She also said it would cost $18 million.
The settlers say giving Jewish homes to Palestinian terrorists adds insult to injury, reports Berger.
Palestinian leaders have not given a clear preference, but some experts have said some of the settlement homes, most of them one-story cottages, would have to be demolished to make room for high-rises that could ease a severe housing shortage in densely populated Gaza.
Chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Monday he expected Israel and the Palestinians to discuss the issue, one of many to be resolved ahead of the withdrawal that is set for summer. If the 21 Gaza settlements are left standing, the Palestinians would also have to ensure that militants do not take over the areas.
In deciding on the Gaza withdrawal last year, the Israeli Cabinet initially said it would destroy the buildings to save the settlers the grief of seeing Palestinians — and possibly militants — living in the homes. Sharon initially envisioned the withdrawal from Gaza and four West Bank settlements as a unilateral move.
However, with a more moderate Palestinian leadership taking over after Yasser Arafat's death in November, Sharon has said he is willing to coordinate the withdrawal with the Palestinians.
"We advise against destroying the homes," Eiland told Israel Radio. "When you weigh the pros and cons ... it would be better to try to reach an agreement to hand over the houses in an organized manner ... to international or more responsible Palestinian parties."
Ilan Cohen, Sharon's chief of staff, said the issue will be reviewed in the coming weeks. "We are talking about a learning process. The entire disengagement process, or the Gaza pullout, is a process in which we are learning all the time," Cohen told Israel Radio. "There was a decision that was correct for that time, it is possible that the decision is also correct today."
Israel's Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon warned that demolishing the homes would require Israel to deal with tons of trash, some of it containing the carcinogen asbestos.
"We have to really hope that the Palestinians will agree to leave the homes intact," Simhon said. The TV images of Palestinians dancing on the red-tiled rooftops of the settler homes after the withdrawal are not as concerning as "the damage we will cause to the aquifers, to the health of the public," he added.
The Hebron rally was the first major expression of support for Friday's bombing. Previous attacks had been roundly cheered by many Palestinians, but the response to the bombing, which broke a period of relative calm between the two sides, was muted and many Palestinians condemned it.
At a Sunday Cabinet meeting, Israel decided to suspend a plan to turn control of five West Bank towns over to the Palestinians and free 400 more prisoners. Those gestures were agreed on at a summit in Egypt on Feb. 8, where Sharon and Abbas declared a truce.
The attack and the Israeli measures underlined the fragility of the truce and its vulnerability to attacks by extremists who oppose any accommodation.