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Israel's Sharon Notes Less Violence, But Halts Peace Talk Speculation
JERUSALEM, Dec. 27 (News Agencies) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said for the first time Thursday that Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority was making progress in its crackdown on resistance activists, but halted growing speculation about backdoor peace talks.
"Even though we are seeing a drop in terror attacks, the Palestinian Authority still has a long way to go," Sharon said, quoted by Israeli radio.
"There will be no diplomatic negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority until the terror ends completely," he said, adding that he would lead negotiations with the Palestinians "personally."
Sharon admitted this week he had given the green light for dovish Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to maintain contacts with the head of the Palestinian legislative council, Ahmed Qorei, but denied reports that the two had agreed on a fast-track plan to establish a Palestinian state.
A Palestinian official said Wednesday Qorei and Peres had reached an agreement on the basis of future peace talks.
A document setting out the agreement set out four points, including Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state, and is similar to that published on December 23 by an Israeli daily.
In Cairo Thursday, Qorei insisted that he and Peres had struck no deals.
"There are contacts, meetings and discussions, but we have not reached any agreement," Qorei said. "We have discussed certain ideas, but they have not led to anything concrete."
He also stressed that the Israeli side has "until now spoken only of security, while we insist on the need to talk of a political solution and security aspects, which are linked."
And international cooperation minister Nabil Sha'ath said one of the breakthroughs of the proposals was the planned abandonment of Sharon's demand for a total calm before any political talks could start.
"I don't want to either downplay or exaggerate its importance," he told reporters in Gaza City, adding that Sharon had not yet approved any of the points discussed.
Sharon said anything brought before the Palestinians should first be discussed in the cabinet and that any eventual agreement between the two men would carry no weight until approved by the cabinet.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army continued its policy of entering Palestinian-run areas to arrest suspected "militants", raiding a student dorm in the West Bank city of Hebron and carting off eight students overnight.
The army said they were members of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, which last week said it was putting an end to attacks and signing up to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's call for an end to attacks on Israel.
A Palestinian security official condemned the raids, which he said had netted around 100 Palestinians in the past week.
Arafat said in an interview with the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that Israel's decision to block him in the West Bank town of Ramallah was a "dangerous violation" of the Oslo peace accords between the two sides.
"The Oslo agreement specifically points to the freedom of movement ... the movement of people, products and the freedom of the movement of Palestinian officials," he said.
Israel said his confinement would continue through the Orthodox Christmas on January 6, which a government official said Arafat had wanted to attend after being prevented by Israel from attending the Latin midnight Christmas mass on Monday.
Meanwhile, a poll released by the Palestinian Center Survey and Policy Research showed that 71 percent of Palestinians want to return to talks with Israel, with 60 percent backing Arafat's call for a ceasefire.
And in another sign of thawing ties, Israeli and Palestinian security officials met in the Gaza Strip for a second time in two days to agree on easing restrictions in the area after a Palestinian police crackdown on Islamic activists.
The measures included opening the border with Egypt and repairing Gaza international airport, wrecked in Israel's retaliation for devastating Palestinian attacks at the beginning of the month.
In other news, Agennce France-Presse reported that Israeli troops entered several meters into Deir El-Balah, south of Gaza City, and searched a few houses, before withdrawing from the area under Palestinian self-rule, security sources said Thursday.
Elsewhere, two Israeli gun boats entered the harbor of al-Mawasi, a coastal area under Israeli control in the southern Gaza Strip, searched several boats and jailed four Palestinian fishermen, security sources said.
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