Israel rejects Arafat summit plea

JERUSALEM - Israel has rebuffed Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's call for a summit to discuss a United States-led committee's report on the violence that has rocked the West Bank and Gaza for months.

Arafat, speaking after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, called for an international summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss the report. It was issued by a five-man group led by former US senator George Mitchell.

Israeli cabinet ministers said there could be no summit until there was an end to more than seven months of violence.

Arafat and then Israeli premier Ehud Barak agreed at a summit at the Egyptian resort last October to set up the panel to look into the bloodshed that began on September 28.

Israeli soldiers earlier shot dead an Islamic Jihad militant near the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Palestinian medical sources said Israeli special forces had fired more than 20 bullets at Ahmed Khalil Esaa Ismail.

Islamic Jihad said Esaa Ismail, aged 37, was a political activist who had spent eight years in Israeli jails.

It gave a warning that it would retaliate "at the appropriate time and the appropriate place" for his death.

Esaa Ismail was shot as he left his home with his 2-year-old daughter, said a Palestinian security official.

He was dead on arrival at nearby Beit Jalla hospital, said its director, Dr. Peter Qumri. The girl sustained shrapnel injuries in her right leg, he said.

The Israeli Army said it had "no record" of an operation in the area. Islamic Jihad is responsible for attacks that have killed scores of Israelis.

Israeli security sources said the Army struck the headquarters of Palestinian intelligence in the West Bank town of Jericho with ground missiles because personnel there were responsible for planning terror attacks.

Officials said nine security staff were hurt. The Army reported late-night Palestinian gunfire towards one of their posts on the Egypt-Israel border. No injuries were reported.

Israel's Channel Two television reported that the Israeli Army was preparing for a three-year conflict with the Palestinians.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA said the Palestinian Authority would give its response to the report to the Mitchell committee today. Israel will also make its comments before the final version is made public.

Israeli political sources said the report recommended a halt to Israeli settlement building but did not suggest sending a peacekeeping force to the region.

But Israeli Minister without Portfolio Danny Naveh rejected Arafat's proposal on Israel's Channel One television.

"The time has arrived for Arafat to understand that he will not forward Palestinian interests by these means ... the way for him to progress is with a cessation of fire and after that a return to direct negotiations with us," he said.

The sources said the report recommended the Israeli Army use non-lethal weapons in confrontations with stone-throwers, advised it to pull back to positions held before the outbreak of fighting, and called on Palestinians to halt violence.

It did not apportion blame for the bloodshed but said Israel should have considered the effect of a visit by Ariel Sharon - later elected prime minister - to a Jerusalem holy site.

The clashes began in September when peace talks were deadlocked, and after Sharon made a high-profile visit to the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif, which is holy to both Jews and Muslims.

Palestinians want the committee to blame Israel for the violence and to recommend an international force be deployed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to prevent what they charge is excessive force by Israel's Army against Palestinian civilians.

Israel wants the report to blame the Palestinian Authority, which it accuses of starting the revolt to extract concessions in peace talks. It also accuses Palestinian security forces of taking part in attacks against Israelis.

Palestinian medical officials said that Obeed Abu Areeban, 54, had died in Gaza from gunshot wounds sustained in a confrontation with Israeli soldiers last month.

His death brought the number of those who have died in the violence since September to at least 404 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 76 Israelis.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said the European Union and the US must work together to support an Egyptian-Jordanian peace plan that calls for talks and an end to bloodshed.

- REUTERS

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