Tense Holiday For Israel
Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian militants in the West Bank on Friday after a day of violence in the Gaza Strip in which Palestinians destroyed a tank and killed two soldiers. Israel also attacked a factory in the Gaza Strip with missiles fired from helicopters early Friday.
The bloodshed cast further doubt on the "Gaza-Bethlehem First" deal reached nearly three weeks ago in which Israel was to ease its military clampdown if Palestinian police reined in militants.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is advising Jewish pilgrims not to do as he did and instead stay away from a hotly-contested holy site in Jerusalem. His visit there two years ago marked the beginning of two years of violence.
In an interview published Friday, Sharon said times are too tense now for similar visits.
Seventy percent of Israeli adults fear for the future of their country, according to a Rosh Hashanah poll, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger. The poll, broadcast on Israel Radio, showed that nearly 60 percent are most concerned about the security situation, while 30 percent pointed to Israel's worsening economy. About half expect terrorism to decrease in the coming year, while a quarter expect it to increase.
Palestinians rioted after Sharon entered the hilltop on Sept. 28, 2000, stating that he was reinforcing Israel's claim to the site, where the Al Aqsa Mosque stands over the ruins of the biblical Jewish Temples, making the site holy to Muslims and Jews. Israel and the Palestinians both claim sovereignty over the shrine.
"I think in these matters we must use judgment," Sharon told the Yediot Ahronot daily in an interview for the weekend's Jewish New Year holiday. "When the situation quiets, we will visit there again, but I don't think we need to make demonstrative steps at this time."
Israeli police were on high alert on the eve of the Jewish New Year, a day after thwarting an attempt to smuggle a 1,300-pound car bomb — one of the largest discovered since the start of a Palestinian uprising two years ago — from the West Bank into Israel.
As Israeli newspaper headlines warned of possible "mega-attacks" in Israeli cities, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to keep up the fight against "terror" groups.
However, in another interview, Sharon told the Maariv daily that Palestinians would remove Yasser Arafat from power if they could, perhaps leaving him as a symbolic figurehead.
Sharon ruled out talks with Arafat but said that recently another Palestinian leader called him. Sharon refused to name the leader but said he would meet with him.
Arafat has "for decades directed a strategy of terrorism and the cruelest acts of murder," Sharon said. "What partner (could he be)? What would we talk about?"
Sharon's Cabinet declared Arafat "irrelevant" last December and ruled out contacts with him. Now, he said, Palestinians are beginning to realize that two years of violence have not benefited them, and that Israel will not collapse as a result of it.
"There is a beginning of soul-searching" among the Palestinians, Sharon said, using a term usually associated with the 10-day period beginning with the New Year holiday, when Jews seek forgiveness for sins.
Asked if Palestinians would replace Arafat if they could, Sharon replied, "In my opinion, yes. I don't know if they would pitch him out completely, because in spite of everything, he is a symbol to them," he said, and they might make him a ceremonial leader.
Palestinians have rejected Sharon's attempt to isolate Arafat, noting that he was elected as their leader in 1996. No other Palestinian leader has seriously challenged him.
However, Sharon insisted that behind the scenes, high-ranking Palestinians are seeking peace talks. "I won't name him, but I can say that a few days ago, one of them called me and asked to talk about how things can move forward," he said. "I will meet him."
At least 1,537 Palestinians and 591 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising began following Sharon's Rosh Hashanah visit to the shrine two years ago.