WASHINGTON - Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has expressed faith in Yasser Arafat but says his failure to arrest those considered responsible for killing an Israeli cabinet minister has almost destroyed the peace camp in Israel.
"Arafat has to re-establish his credibility in the eyes of Israelis and in the eyes of the United States," Peres told the American-Jewish convention in Washington yesterday.
"Arafat wants to belong to the 'club' that fights terror ... But you cannot enter the non-smoking room with a cigar in your mouth," he said, urging Arafat to replace words with deeds.
Peres said Arafat and the Palestinian Authority must hand over those involved in the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi and arrest militants on Israel's most wanted list.
"Arafat didn't arrest them at all. That creates a credibility gap that almost destroyed the peace camp in Israel," Peres said.
He was speaking just before the Palestinian Authority met a third key Israeli demand yesterday by outlawing the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which admitted killing Zeevi last week.
The PFLP said it killed Zeevi to avenge Israel's assassination of its leader, Abu Ali Mustafa, in August.
Peres insisted that Israel was not trying to oust Arafat or his Palestinian Authority and had no intention of staying in Palestinian-controlled areas.
He was speaking on a day in which four Palestinians were killed in the Israeli armed forces' biggest ground offensive since the signing of the Oslo interim peace accords in 1993.
Israeli tanks and troops were deployed in and around six West Bank towns after Zeevi's killing in what Israel said was a bid to pressure but not topple Arafat.
Yesterday the tanks moved deeper into Bethlehem and Ramallah.
Arafat said the Israeli moves were in direct challenge to international efforts to revive peace talks.
Peres, who had agreed to a truce with Arafat on September 26 in a bid to stop a year of bloodshed, said he still believed in the Palestinian President.
"Among the Palestinians, if there is a partner, he can be a partner more than others," he told the meeting. But Arafat must exert control over Palestinian militants.
"I do believe Arafat is capable of doing so. I think he is reluctant and hesitant and under the false impression that it is enough to say the right words without the deeds."
Peres met United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York for talks about the violence. A UN spokesman said Annan "emphasised the need to find a way to return to the negotiating table on the basis of the Mitchell Report and to break out of the current deadlock".
The Mitchell plan, proposed early this year, calls for a ceasefire and security cooperation, leading to new talks on the future of the Palestinian territories.
Peres said Israel would not have gone into the West Bank towns if the Palestinians would fight "the terrorists" themselves, the spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Peres is to meet US Secretary of State Colin Powell tomorrow.
- REUTERS
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Peres: Arafat must rein in terrorists
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