World

Sharon Points A Finger At Arafat

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 8, 2001 / 10:42 AM EST / CBS

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accused Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Sunday of doing nothing to stop violence against Israelis as Palestinians blamed Sharon for turning their cities into prison camps.

Troops have dug trenches and put up sandhills near the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Jenin and Jericho and placed tanks near Ramallah, sealing the Palestinian-ruled cities off from other parts of the West Bank, home to two million Palestinians.

Witnesses said additional roadblocks had been set up in the heart of Jerusalem, a prime target of Islamic militant suicide bombers who have vowed to launch a rash of attacks with Sharon's rise to power.

The 73-year-old former general said he would not repeat what he called the mistake of his predecessor Ehud Barak of negotiating with Arafat under the barrel of a gun.

"I don't think that we can negotiate under fire. This government will not be negotiating under fire," said Sharon, who took office last week after defeating Barak in February.

In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Sharon said Arafat's security forces were involved in violence against Israel.

"Most of the terrorist acts at the present time are carried out by Palestinian armed forces, security services and even the closest to Arafat forces...the presidential guard," he said.

Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdainah denied the Palestinian Authority was behind the violence which he blamed on the Israeli army and Israel's stranglehold on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"The only way to peace and to end the violence is to lift the closure and to withdraw Israeli troops and tanks," he said.

Sharon said he was disappointed Arafat did not call for an end to violence in a speech to Palestinian lawmakers on Saturday in which he lashed out at what he called "Israeli aggression."

At least 343 Palestinians, 65 Israelis, and 13 Israeli Arabs have been killed in more than five months of violence that erupted after a breakdown in peace moves.

The Palestinian leadership issued a statement calling for the U.N. Security Council to convene and for the international community to act "to bring an end to this new racist Israeli policy that can lead to a full explosion in the entire region."

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo accused the new Israeli government of officially launching what he called a new war against the Palestinian people. He said it was turning cities into prisons and detention camps.

Witnesses said the army had sealed off Palestinian-ruled Ramallah, the medical, business, and cultural center of the West Bank after East Jerusalem.

An army spokesman said the measures aimed to impair the free movement of what he called terrorists. Similar steps were taken elsewhere. "The issue is not one of collective punishment, rather preventative steps demanded by the situation," he said.

In Gaza, Palestinians buried a farmer shot dea by Israeli troops on Saturday. His body was riddled with metal darts that Palestinians said were anti-personnel ammunition known as "flechettes" not previously seen in the conflict.

X-rays of Ziad Ayad's body showed a nail-like projectile in his left eye, two in his pelvis and one in his left lung. The Israeli army declined to comment on whether it was using a new weapon.

It only said the army "uses means best suited to the overall security conditions and specific threats in the area."

Sharon said in another interview published on Sunday that he would not respond to the Palestinian uprising by reoccupying West Bank and Gaza lands handed over in seven years of peace deals. Israeli hardliners have urged retaking the lands.

"Areas that were given to the Palestinians - there, I think the situation is irreversible and I don't think we have to re-enter," Sharon said in a joint interview with the Washington Post and Newsweek. "That doesn't mean Israel will not take steps against people who find shelter there," he added.

Sharon also said he preferred to deal with the Palestinians before negotiating with arch-foe Syria. But he said peace talks could only resume if an end was brought to the bloodiest Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Sunday it was still "too early" for him to meet Arafat despite what he called a slight drop in "terrorism."

Peres has said previously, however, that negotiations are the only way to end the violence.

It continues to overshadow every aspect of life in Israel, including events that are supposed to be joyful. CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger reports Palestinian youths threw stones at Jewish settlers dancing in the streets in Hebron Sunday as part of the celebration of the Jewish holiday of Purim. Israeli troops responded with rubber bullets and some settlers took their own vengeance, smashing the windows of Palestinian-owned cars.

In newspaper interviews Sunday, Arafat said the Palestinian uprising will continue.

Addressing Palestinian lawmakers on Saturday, Arafat vowed to renew a request for the United Nations to deploy peacekeepers in the West Bank and Gaza to protect his people.

He also called on Israel's new government to resume peace talks on the basis of understandings reached in negotiations with Sharon's predecessor, Ehud Barak.

"In his speech there was no clear appeal to stop terrorism. There were a few formulations that should have been more pleasant to the Israeli ear," Peres complained. He said Israel wanted a clear Palestinian policy to reduce violence.

Sharon's interviews restated his belief in reaching another interim peace deal "or a situation of non-belligerency" and said he was looking for a formula for cracking down on Palestinian gunmen and militants while not hurting the rest of the Palestinian population with closures.