Palestinian minister meets with Tenet
Aug. 10, 2002
A mounted Israeli policeman charges a crowd of peace activists Saturday at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Israeli and foreign activists trying to join Palestinian peace marchers were stopped by force from entering Bethlehem.		 Withdrawal of Israelis called key to peace;
2 die in Mehora

ULTIMATELY, a decision could hold the key to Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, long demanded by the Palestinian Authority, which Arafat heads, as a first step toward transforming the territory into a state.
       But even with White House pressure to finish the job, differences between Israel and the Palestinians on the scope of an Israeli pullback could hamper completion of a new security blueprint by the CIA.
       A CIA assessment team met with Israeli and Palestinian officials in the area two weeks ago and is working on a report to Tenet. Egypt and Jordan have offered to provide training to Palestinian recruits.
       Yehiyeh, a key Arafat aide, called an Israeli military withdrawal the best way of ensuring the American vision of a Palestinian state.
       Yehiyeh, a former Syrian army officer appointed in June by Arafat, said that already “behind the curtain we are doing something slowly, gradually” to curb violence in the region.

 
DIPLOMATIC ASSERTIVENESS   
 ‘The cornerstone of stability in the Middle East depends on establishing a Palestinian state.’ 
— NABIL ABU RDENEH
aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat          Yehiyeh’s meeting with Tenet on Saturday continued what Palestinian officials have recently termed “positive meetings,” and continued an apparent growing diplomatic assertiveness.
       Since arriving in Washington on Wednesday, the Palestinian delegation has made a point of emphasizing the impact Israeli restrictions have had on the Palestinian economy.
       The Palestinian delegation, headed by chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, met with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell in Washington on Thursday. “We’re anxious to get some specific action started, especially with respect to security,” Powell said Thursday after meeting with Yehiyeh, Erekat and economics minister Maher Mastri.
       And on Friday, Yehiyeh, Erekat and Mastri met for more than two hours with William Burns, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East, and then with Fred Schieck, the deputy director of the Agency for International Development.
       “The cornerstone of stability in the Middle East depends on establishing a Palestinian state, and we hope this American-Palestinian relationship will continue for the benefit of stability and peace in the region,” said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, another Arafat aide.
       
MEETING WAS DOWNPLAYED   
       CIA officials had downplayed the importance of Yehiyeh’s meeting with Tenet. “It’s just a meeting,” one senior official said Friday, noting that it also allowed Tenet to avoid meeting Arafat.
       U.S. officials have avoided meeting with the Palestinian Authority chairman since President Bush in June called for his replacement as part of a reform package that would precede statehood. However, the ministers in Washington this week have repeatedly asserted they are representing Arafat.
       Abu Rdeneh told reporters that the Palestinian delegation had informed officials in Washington that elections — a key demand of President Bush, could not take place while Israeli troops remained in Palestinian areas.
       Israeli and Palestinian officials had come close to agreement earlier in the week for a staged Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian areas, but it fell through after disagreements over which areas would be evacuated.
       
VIOLENCE PERSISTS   
 Aug. 10 — In the West Bank town of Turmus Aya, many of the Palestinians are also Americans. As NBC’s Jim Maceda reports, their expectations have been shattered by conflict. 
         The Palestinians insisted that a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip be paralleled with the removal of troops from at least one West Bank town. The Israelis insisted Gaza be first and said the others would follow once the Palestinians showed they could control security in the Strip.
       Despite diplomatic initiatives, the violence that has long characterized life in the region continued. An army spokeswoman said troops had killed one gunman inside Mehora in the Jordan Valley, and were scouring the area for accomplices. Israel Radio said at least two Israelis had been wounded in addition to the woman killed Saturday. 
       The attack came under cover of darkness as the Jewish Sabbath ended, while U.S. and Palestinian officials in Washington discussed ways of overhauling the Palestinian Authority as a prerequisite for rapprochement with Israel.
       Israeli security sources said two gunmen had carried out the attack on Mehora, east of the Palestinian city of Nablus, a bastion of Islamic militants. But there was no immediate claim of responsibility.  

On Saturday, Israeli soldiers shot dead a 54-year-old Palestinian municipality worker going to his job in Nablus, where Israel has imposed a 24-hour curfew. Military officials expressed sorrow and said the army had opened an investigation.
       Ahmed al Kouraini, who works at the emergency fire services building, was stopped by an Israeli tank and then shot in the head, witnesses said. He died before reaching the hospital.
       The curfews in Nablus and several other Palestinian cities were imposed by Israel six weeks ago to try to end Palestinian attacks. Municipal workers, however, have been allowed to move around.

A MEETING WITH HAMAS
       Roman Catholic Patriarch Michael Sabbah, a Palestinian who is the highest-ranking Christian official in Jerusalem, met for two hours with Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin at Yassin’s house in Gaza City. Both sides said the meeting was aimed at bringing peace to the region.
       The patriarch met with Yassin as part of Palestinian consultations to bring an end to suicide bombings, a Patriarchate official said on condition of anonymity.
       “We are not seeking promises from any human being, we hear and make dialogue with everyone and depend on God and our Lord Jesus Christ,” Sabbah told reporters as he left Yassin’s house.
       Yassin said Hamas could not call off suicide attacks as long as Israelis were holding Palestinian land and prisoners, building settlements and demolishing the homes of militants and their relatives.
       
PEACE PROTEST
A demonstration that drew hundreds of Israeli and Arab peace activists to a checkpoint along the Bethlehem-Jerusalem check point ended in scuffles Saturday, as police sprayed the demonstrators with water and charged them on horseback. Two people were arrested, according to one of the demonstration’s organizers.
       U.S. officials confirmed Friday that a CIA team met secretly with Palestinian officials and drew up a detailed plan for security reforms. The plan was submitted to the Bush administration last week and recommended profound changes in the operations of the Palestinian security services, the officials said. The team did not meet with Arafat.
       Arafat, in an interview on the pan-Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera Friday, described the recent Palestinian-American talks as “constructive” and said he expected “positive results” on the political, economic and security fronts.
       He added that it was agreed that a team of American, Egyptian and Jordanian security experts will train the Palestinian security force.
       
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

In other developments Saturday:
 Dafna Spruch, 62, an Israeli employee at Hebrew University who was wounded in a Palestinian bombing at the school July 31, died. Her death brought the toll in the attack to eight, five of them Americans. 
 Two Palestinians in Gaza, 13-year-old Ayman Abu Mughaseb and 78-year-old Khader Sa’edi, died of wounds suffered previously in separate Israeli military actions, hospital officials said.
 Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian they said was attempting to infiltrate Israel from the northern Gaza Strip. Grenades the man was carrying exploded when he was shot near Niram, a kibbutz on the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, the army said. Hamas sources said the Palestinian militant group claimed responsibility for the attempted infiltration and identified the dead man as Maher El-Masri, 20, from Beit Hanoun, a village in north Gaza.