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Arafat, Abbas Resolve Key Differences

Posted on: Monday, 14 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

Top Palestinian leaders settled a rift late Monday that threatened peace efforts, an official said, and a Palestinian stabbed three people in Tel Aviv in what police called the first terror attack in an Israeli city since a truce began June 29.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and Yasser Arafat were able to resolve key differences at their meeting, Palestinian officials said. Last week Abbas threatened to resign unless Arafat's Fatah movement gave its backing to his handling of contacts with Israel.

Legislator Saeb Erekat said the two reaffirmed an arrangement that the PLO, headed by Arafat, had final say over contacts with Israel, emphasizing that Abbas is not a free agent in his dealings with Sharon.

"The Palestinian leadership is in charge of peace talks with Israel," Erekat said.

The United States and Israel are counting on Abbas to lead the Palestinians in the "road map" blueprint for ending 33 months of violence and creating a Palestinian state in 2005. Abbas' resignation could torpedo the efforts.

As Arafat and Abbas met at Arafat's office in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was in London, the first stop on a trip to Europe, where he is trying to persuade leaders to go along with his boycott of Arafat.

Britain rebuffed his request. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said his country would continue to deal with Arafat.

The attack in Tel Aviv came hours after Abbas pledged to enforce the cease-fire. "Unfortunately there are some violations of the truce, and we will deal with them in accordance with the law," he said.

The Palestinian, armed with a knife, tried to enter the "Tarabin" restaurant around 2 a.m., first stabbing a security guard, police spokeswoman Shlomit Hertzberg said.

She said restaurant workers began chasing the attacker, who stabbed two more people before he was shot and wounded by pursuers.

He was taken to a hospital, where police interrogated him. His identity was not immediately released, and there was no claim of responsibility.

The incident threatened the relative calm since the unilateral truce declaration. In another incident, a top Palestinian official said Monday that Palestinian police will do all they can to free an Israeli taxi driver feared kidnapped by militants, and Palestinian prisoners in Israel called for the missing man's release.

The disappearance of 61-year-old Eliyahu Goral has also stoked Israeli fears of an end to the truce.

In the search for the missing driver, Israel imposed a curfew on the West Bank town of Ramallah. Goral's cab was found abandoned and idling in an Arab section of Jerusalem on Friday.

Palestinian leaders took pains to show they are cooperating with Israel to solve his disappearance.

"President Arafat has instructed all Palestinian security forces to search for this driver and to get him and to give him back if he is in our areas," Erekat said.

Prisoner representative committees at the Ashkelon and Shatah prisons also released a statement calling for Goral's freedom.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for kidnapping Goral, Israeli officials fear he was abducted by militants looking for a prisoner swap.

Palestinians are insisting that Israel release the estimated 7,000 Palestinian prisoners it holds, most accused of terrorist acts. Israel has agreed to free only several hundred and says that prisoners involved in the killing of Israelis cannot be released.

Although it would be unusual for militants to kidnap an Israeli and not take responsibility for the action, it would not be without precedent.

In 1989, two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped in southern Israel; the body of one was discovered three months later, the remains of the second seven years later.

The U.S-backed "road map" for ending 33 months of violence does not speak of a release of prisoners, but Israel has said it would release prisoners to as a gesture to Abbas, who is backed by the United States as an alternative to Arafat as a peacemaker.

Despite some hopeful signs, the road map plan envisaging a Palestinian state by 2005 has been mired in disagreements. Israel is demanding a disarmament of militant groups, as called for in the road map.

But the Palestinian Authority fears forcing militants to give up their weapons could spark civil war. A top leader of the Hamas group warned Monday that attempts to disarm it would bring a return to attacks on Israelis.

"This is just a warning message to the Palestinian Authority that disarming the Palestinian fighters will lead to the end of the initiative declared," said Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

Israel, which pulled out of parts of Gaza and the West Bank town of Bethlehem after the truce, says there will be no further withdrawals from the West Bank towns it holds until a Palestinian crackdown on the militants has begun.

Hamas, along with Islamic Jihad, is responsible for the majority of suicide bombings against Israel.

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