Israel Readies For War And Peace

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Tuesday Israel is considering a troop withdrawal from the West Bank town of Hebron by the end of the week. He said Israel and the Palestinians are discussing the matter, as a follow up to the Israeli pullout from Bethlehem two months ago.

Bethlehem has been relatively quiet since then, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger, with Palestinian police controlling militant groups. The movement on Hebron comes after the U.S. urged Israel to ease restrictions on the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Israeli police briefly detained the chief Muslim cleric in Jerusalem, Ikrema Sabri, and questioned him Tuesday about a newspaper interview in which he was quoted as condoning suicide bombings, police said.

Sabri was released after being held for about three hours at a police compound in central Jerusalem.

Police say he described such attacks as legitimate resistance and said suicide bombers are martyrs who are alive in heaven. The mufti has a history of infuriating Israelis, reports Berger. He once said that there's not one stone in Jerusalem that's connected to Jewish history.

In other events, Palestinian security officials said that two Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces late Monday in the West Bank, and Israeli police said that at least four people were slightly wounded Tuesday morning when a bus came under attack in northern Israel.

Sharon is in Washington for talks with President Bush Wednesday on U.S. plans to attack Iraq. Both leaders are concerned that Saddam Hussein will respond to a U.S. attack by targeting Israel. Sharon wants advance notice of a U.S. strike, and real-time satellite pictures of any Iraqi missile launches.

For his part, Mr. Bush wants Israel to ease up on the Palestinians. The U.S. is concerned that Israeli military actions are eroding Arab support for an American strike on Iraq.

Sabri, 63, was questioned about a June 1 interview in the Palestinian newspaper Al Ayyam. He reportedly said that "Palestinians have the legitimate right to fight Zionist occupation," said police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby.

"In addition, the mufti claimed that there is no religious law against suicide actions, rather they are legitimate acts of self defense," Ben-Ruby added.

Sabri, who was appointed to his post in 1994 by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, was detained for several hours by Israeli police in September 2001 and questioned about comments he made in a sermon and a meeting he held with Lebanese guerrilla leaders.

Last year, Sabri described the Palestinian uprising against Israel as a "holy war" and said that suicide bombers and other Muslims killed in the conflict were "martyrs."

"The issue is decided," Sabri was quoted as saying when asked about suicide bombings against Israeli targets. "Muslims believe in the Day of Judgment and that dying as a martyr has its reward — going to heaven — and that a martyr is alive in the eyes of God."

Israel says many Muslim clerics and political leaders have encouraged suicide bombings and other attacks against Israel.

Sabri's son Obedah said police came to the family home in east Jerusalem about 9 a.m. Tuesday and took his father. Sabri was released at about noon.

Sabri regularly delivers sermons during Friday prayers at the Al Aqsa mosque, part of the Noble Sanctuary compound in Jerusalem's Old City, which is the third holiest site in Islam.

The compound, dating to the 7th century, was built atop the ruins of the biblical Jewish Temples, the holiest site in Judaism. Sabri has repeatedly disputed Jewish links to the site that Jews call the Temple Mount.

In January 2001, the German magazine Die Welt quoted Sabri as saying: "In the whole city, there is not one stone that refers back to Jewish history." He also was quoted as saying that Jewish immigrants to Israel "should go back to where they came from."