Israel is afraid of Palestinians

Netanyahu is preparing for the worst
The latest attack by Palestinian terrorists, which killed 15 people and injured another 170, could permanently stall the peace process in the Middle East. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would abandon its commitments under the peace deal with Yasser Arafat unless the Palestinian Authority leader ends terrorism.

There is little doubt that the Israeli government is really ready to take tough measures against the Palestinian Authority this time. Two kamikaze bombings last week at a market in Jerusalem have caused extreme tension in Israeli society. The situation is aggravated by the fact that on Monday the deadline set by the ultimatum of the extremist organization Hamas expired (its leadership threatened to continue terrorist attacks if the Israeli authorities do not release all Palestinian prisoners from prisons). “We take all this very seriously and are preparing for the worst,” Netanyahu said in this regard.
Enhanced security measures have been taken in Israeli cities: suspicious, ownerless items discovered by the police are shot by robots; parents do not let their children leave the house; people try to travel by minibuses - it is believed that large buses are targeted by terrorists.
The situation is approaching a boiling point in the Palestinian territories as well. Yasser Arafat condemned the blockade imposed by Israel on the autonomy, calling it "a war of Israelis against the Palestinians." “Instead of jointly fighting terrorism, Netanyahu took punitive measures against the entire Palestinian people and interrupted peace negotiations. That is, he did what the terrorists wanted,” his assistant Erikat said on behalf of Arafat.
There is no information yet whether Yasser Arafat is doing anything concrete to combat Palestinian extremists in the autonomy. But he is unlikely to be able to take any radical steps. A sensation in the investigation of the latest terrorist attack was the alleged involvement of Palestinian police chief Ghazi Jabali in the explosions at the Jerusalem market. “We have no doubt that Jabali has a direct connection to terrorist attacks,” Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai said on national television.
On Monday, the American Congress intervened in the situation. At the initiative of Senator Phil Gramm, the issue of suspending the provision of financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority amounting to several hundred million dollars a year is being seriously discussed there. “Congressional authorization for the payment of this money expires on August 12 and is unlikely to be renewed unless the Palestinians begin to faithfully fulfill their obligations under the agreement with Israel,” Gramm said. At the end of the week, Denis Ross, the American mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, will arrive in Israel and try to restore dialogue between the parties.

ALEXANDER Kommersant-SHUMILIN

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 125 dated 08/05/1997, p. 4