Tanks rolled back into Jenin, stone-throwing continues

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, January 9 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Israel lambasted Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei Friday, January 9, charging that the Premier’s talk of a bi-national state if negotiations fail is a direct threat to the very existence of the Jewish state.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops continued their sweep of the West Bank for what it calls “suspected militants”, arresting several Palestinians, including an official in Jenin of Yasser Arafat's ruling Fatah party, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Israeli officials were furious Friday at Qorei's suggestion that Israel's policies in the occupied territories could force the Palestinians to revert to the option of a bi-national state and wield the demographic threat.

"This is nothing less that a threat to put an end to the state of Israel as a Jewish state, and we categorically reject it," a high-ranking official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Instead of threatening us, Mr. Qorei would be best advised to come back to the negotiations table and start implementing the roadmap," he said.

The internationally drafted peace "roadmap," officially endorsed by both sides in June 2003, calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state by 2005 but has had very little impact on the ground.

On Thursday night, Qorei slammed Israel's construction of the West Bank separation barrier and said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's "disengagement" plan could force the Palestinians to shift towards the option of a bi-national state.

That was a reference to threats by Sharon to take unilateral steps toward total separation of Israel from the Palestinians if peace efforts fail.

"Israel's continued policy of building the wall means that talk about a Palestinian state makes no sense," Qorei said, referring to the separation wall being built, in places deep inside the West Bank, to separate the Jewish state from the Palestinians.

"If this Israeli policy continues, we are going to come back to the option of a single, bi-national democratic state," he told AFP.

His declaration comes amid calls by Israelis from across the political spectrum to support the creation of a Palestinian state, lest Jews rapidly become outnumbered because of the Palestinians' higher birth rate.

But the head of Israel's parliamentary committee on defense and foreign affairs, Yuval Steinitz, charged on public radio that Qorei's words "proved that (Palestinian leader) Yasser Arafat and others have not given up on their dream of destroying the Jewish state."

With the prospects of talks with the Palestinians looking as distant as ever, Sharon has come under renewed pressure from senior members of his cabinet to reopen the Syrian chapter and accept offers by Damascus to resume peace talks.

However, a poll carried by the Israeli daily Maariv Friday showed that a majority of Israelis opposed handing back to Syria the strategic Golan plateau occupied by Israel in 1967 and annexed 14 years later.

Clampdown In Jenin

On the ground and only a week after lifting a four-month-old blockade on the West Bank city of Jenin, the Israeli occupation army rolled back into the flashpoint northern West Bank city Friday before dawn and nabbed several wanted Palestinians, security sources on both sides told AFP.

One of them was Atta Abu Rumeila, the Fatah head for Jenin's refugee camp.

An army spokesman did not elaborate on the reasons of his capture and added that five other “suspected militants” were arrested during the brief incursion.

Two activists suspected of belonging to the Islamic Jihad movement were also detained in another operation in a nearby village, Palestinian security sources said.

According to al-Jazeera satellite TV, Israeli troops re-imposed a curfew and continued to lock the city while some Palestinian children and teenagers defied them by throwing stones.