Palestinian cabinet says militant to stay jailed

10.00am

GAZA - The Palestinian cabinet said today it would keep a top militant wanted by Israel in jail despite a court order to release him, lifting a shadow from a Middle East mission by US CIA director George Tenet.

In a statement, the cabinet expressed "respect for the Palestinian High Court of Justice decision" but said its ruling to free Ahmed Sa'adat "cannot be implemented under these circumstances because of Israeli threats".

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had said Israel had taken all necessary steps to prevent the release of Sa'adat, leader of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine which assassinated Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi in October.

Sa'adat is one of six Palestinians being held in a West Bank prison in Jericho under British and US supervision as part of an internationally brokered deal that ended Israel's five-week military siege of President Yasser Arafat last month.

The prospect of Sa'adat's release had raised tensions as Tenet began a visit on Monday that President George W Bush said would be aimed at building a united Palestinian force "that will fight terror".

The Palestinian leadership, meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, said Israeli forces had sealed off Jericho immediately after the court issued its ruling in Gaza earlier in the day and voiced fears Israel would kill Sa'adat if he went free.

Tenet met Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after landing in Tel Aviv against the backdrop of a recent resurgence in Palestinian suicide attacks in Israeli cities.

On Tuesday the Central Intelligence Agency director was due to see Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who has appealed for international intervention to stop daily Israeli raids in the West Bank and searches for militants.

The three-judge Palestinian High Court said there was no evidence linking Sa'adat -- who has not been put on trial -- to the assassination of Zeevi.

The PFLP said it assassinated Zeevi to avenge Israel's killing of Sa'adat's predecessor.

Israel responded angrily to the court's decision.

"We have taken all the necessary steps so that it will not be possible to release a person who was involved in murder, ordered murder and whose organisation carries out murders to this day," Sharon told reporters, without elaborating.

Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the release of Sa'adat would breach the Palestinians' deal with Israel, the United States and Britain and warned that the Jewish state would then feel free "to act according to its security interest".

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said before the Palestinian cabinet made its announcement that it was up to the Israelis and Palestinians to work out the dispute over Sa'adat.

Adding to pressure on Arafat, leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip said the two militant groups, which oppose interim peace accords with Israel, had rejected his offer of seats in a reformed cabinet.

In the latest Israeli raids in the West Bank, armoured vehicles swept into Ein Beyt Ilma refugee camp on the edge of the city of Nablus and tanks rolled into the Palestinian-ruled town of Qalqilya, imposing curfews and searching houses.

Israeli forces also raided the village of Hussan near Bethlehem and searched for militants, witnesses said.

In Ein Beyt Ilma, soldiers using loudspeakers ordered all males between the ages of 15 and 43 to gather at designated spots. Many were blindfolded, handcuffed and taken away in buses and military trucks, witnesses said.

Military sources said most of those detained on Monday were quickly released.

Israel declared an end early last month to a West Bank offensive launched after Palestinian suicide attacks killed dozens of Israelis. But it has swept back into West Bank cities and towns almost daily after a resurgence of suicide bombings.

At least 1378 Palestinians and 486 Israelis have been killed since an uprising against Israeli occupation began.

- REUTERS

Feature: Middle East

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