Peres wants peace talks

2001-07-28 09:31

Jerusalem - Divisions have resurfaced in Israel's "national unity" government over how to tackle the conflict with the Palestinians after Israeli tanks bombarded security posts in the West Bank on Friday in retaliation for the slaying of an Israeli teenager by Palestinian snipers.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres wants to resume peace talks with the Palestinians right away, his Labour party said, a stance that directly contradicts Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's policy of no negotiations under fire and drew sharp criticism from right-wing ministers.

Ronen Landau, 17, was shot dead while driving from Jerusalem to his home in the Givat Zeev settlement in the West Bank with his father and brother late on Thursday.

Israeli tanks shelled several Palestinian security posts in the West Bank city of Ramallah after the attack but there were no reports of injuries.

Israeli newspapers displayed front-page colour photographs of the teenager's blood-spattered seat in the car, which will surely inflame passions amid the general belief that a US-brokered ceasefire is now all but meaningless.

Landau became the 17th Israeli killed, along with 38 Palestinians, since the truce was announced on June 13. More than 660 people have died since the Palestinian uprising began in late September, over 500 of them Palestinians.

'He must realise we are dealing with murderers'

"I call on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to put an end to the policy of restraint and realise we are dealing with murderers who must be stopped," said Shaul Mizrahi, head of Givat Zeev's local council.

Sharon has been under increasing pressure from hardliners to end his self-declared policy of "restraint" and unleash a heavy military retaliation on the Palestinians to quell the 10 months of bloodshed.

He has repeatedly insisted that he is committed to avoiding a serious military escalation of the conflict but at the same time vowed that Israel will not "negotiate under fire."

Effi Oshaya, who heads the Labour party faction in parliament, said Peres - who shared the Nobel peace prize with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after the Oslo peace accords - told party MPs it was time to resume direct negotiations.

'It's time for the main meal'

"Shimon Peres told Labour leaders on Thursday that we've finished with the appetisers course and now it's time for the main meal - and that means to open direct and public negotiations with the Palestinians," he told army radio.

A Peres spokesman denied the report but army radio cited three other Labour offic!ials at Thursday's meeting who verified the story.

Peres has met Arafat twice in recent weeks, both times eliciting stinging criticism from hardliners in Sharon's feisty, multi-party cabinet.

"There can't be any negotiations," minister without portfolio Danny Naveh told army radio. "We must continue to pressure Arafat and get him to reveal his true face -- and refuse the proposals of Peres to negotiate under fire."

Arafat told the European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana this week it was close to impossible for him to rein in Palestinian violence as long as Israel continues its "aggressions."

On the ground, Israeli police said they defused a bomb hidden in a carved-out watermelon and planted in a public bus in Jerusalem, and the army reported that its troops exchanged fire with Palestinians at a military post at the Karni crossing point in the Gaza Strip.

Chief rabbi supports targeted killings

Chief rabbi Israel Meir Lau has given his seal of approval to the government's controversial practice of carrying out targeted killings of "terrorists," press reports said Friday.

"The reality in the country is that of a 'mitzvah war' (a war of necessity), which is defined as one in which not only defence, but also initiative and daring is needed," Lau was quoted as saying,

The Palestinians accuse Israel of assassinating more than 40 militants, a policy Israeli officials have described as "self-defence."

Sporadic violence continued in the territories Friday night when two Palestinian youths were injured by Israeli army shooting near the Karni crossing point in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army also reported Palestinian attacks on various Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, causing no injuries.

Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury was to begin a four-day visit to the Holy Land on Friday that is being described as a "mission of peace."

Archbishop George Carey will meet Sharon and Arafat and visit several church projects in areas that have seen some of the heaviest Israeli-Palestinian fighting, including a hospital in Gaza City and a rehabilitation centre in Beit Jala, a Palestinian village near Bethlehem. - AFP <

- SAPA