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Arafat Calls For Summit To Discuss Mitchell Report
GAZA CITY, May 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called Saturday for a new Middle East summit to discuss the report of the U.S.-led Mitchell commission into the last seven months of violence, whose initial findings were reported to be highly critical of Israeli policy.
On the ground, the unrest showed no signs of abating, with Israel firing shells on Palestinian intelligence headquarters in Jericho and a member of the Islamic Jihad group gunned down in what had the trademarks of Israel's previously confessed policy of assassinating Palestinian activists who conduct anti-Israeli attacks.
Speaking in Gaza after returning from talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Arafat said a new summit should follow up on the original meeting in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh last October, which commissioned the Mitchell report.
"In accordance with what was agreed at Sharm el-Sheikh, the report must be discussed at another summit in Sharm el-Sheikh ... so a new summit must be called," Arafat told reporters.
The commission's preliminary findings were presented to the Israeli and Palestinian authorities Friday, and have been welcomed by the Palestinian side because they are reported to include several criticisms of Israel - notably of its settlement policy.
Headed by former U.S. Senator and Northern Ireland peace-broker George Mitchell, the five-member commission was given the task of looking into the causes of the Palestinian uprising, or Intifada, which has now cost more than 500 lives, most of them Palestinian.
According to press reports Saturday, the initial report recommends an immediate freeze on Israeli settlement building, which is deeply resented by Arabs, including on so-called "natural growth" projects at existing colonies intended to cater for rising demand.
It also calls on Israel to end the use of rubber-coated metal bullets by troops to disperse demonstrations, to lift economic and travel restrictions on Palestinians and to refrain from their destruction of homes and farmland for security reasons, the London daily the Independent reported.
The report dwells at length on the Jewish settlements, which are seen as a bitter provocation by Palestinians and have grown by 53% in the past seven years, and recommends that all new building be halted, the Independent said.
The report also says the army should stop firing rubber-coated metal bullets at unarmed demonstrators. Their use had contributed to the Intifada's death toll of more than 500, much of which was "avoidable," the report was quoted as saying.
In addition, Israel should "ensure that the security forces and settlers refrain from the destruction of homes, roads, trees and other farmland."
"We acknowledge Israel's security concerns. We believe, however, that [Israel] should lift closures, transfer to the PA [Palestinian Authority] all revenues owed and permit Palestinians who have been employed in Israel to return to their jobs," the draft findings were quoted as saying.
However, the report also contains strong words for Arafat and his Palestinian Authority, accusing them of a "very troubling" lack of control over their security forces and calling on them to prevent gunmen firing from and on residential areas, the paper said.
The findings also reject the Palestinian demand for an international peace-keeping force, and say that the controversial visit in late September by Sharon to a disputed holy shrine in Jerusalem - known as Temple Mount to Jews and Al-Aqsa mosque to Muslims - was not the primary cause of the Intifada, "even though its provocative effect should have been foreseen," the paper said.
The report recommends that, "both sides should set up a 'cool-off period'" and find a "joint agreement to protect holy places".
Top Arafat aide Nabil Shaath Saturday welcomed the initial report, which he said went "hand-in-hand" with Jordanian-Egyptian proposals on ways to end the violence that are currently the focus of diplomatic activity.
Israelis and Palestinians are now studying the initial report, and Egyptian Information Minister Safwat al-Sherif said Arafat's aim was to convene a new Sharm el-Sheikh summit to discuss their comments before publication of a final draft.
The original summit was attended by Mubarak, King Abdullah II of Jordan, then Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, then U.S. president Bill Clinton, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, and the European Union's top diplomat Javier Solana. The summit aimed to bring a halt to the violence, but resulted only in the establishment of the fact-finding commission to investigate the conflict's roots.
Meanwhile, a member of Islamic Jihad - Ahmad Khalil Issa Ismail, 36 - was gunned down Saturday outside his shop in the West Bank village of Artas near Bethlehem, and associates accused Israeli forces of carrying out a clandestine assassination.
An Israeli military spokesman said he had no knowledge of the attack, but Palestinians pointed to remarks made this week by Sharon at the West Bank settlement of Ofra, in which he hinted at the possibility of extra-judicial killings.
"There are some things we do which we will continue to deny ... Everyone will know that the Israeli army is responsible. There are some methods that will always remain secret," he was quoted by the Israeli press as saying.
The government of former prime minister Ehud Barak, who was ousted from power in February, previously admitted a policy of extra-judicial killings by the Israeli military.
In the Palestinian-controlled town of Jericho, Israeli tanks fired shells at the headquarters of the intelligence services, in what a military source said was an attack aimed at "perpetrators of attacks on Israelis and those who give them orders."
Nine members of the intelligence services were wounded, two seriously, Palestinian officials said, and a large part of the complex was set on fire.
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