MIDEAST: The Israeli army will begin to leave two West Bank cities within hours, Israel Radio said yesterday, writes David Horovitz, in Jerusalem
The report said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, under pressure from US President George W. Bush to start a withdrawal from Palestinian areas seized 10 days ago, had decided Israeli forces would leave Qalqilya and Tulkarm. There was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli army.
The radio said Mr Sharon made the decision after consulting top cabinet ministers and that Israel would announce that its forces were leaving the two cities after completing their mission there to round up militants and weapons.
Israeli troops have taken almost full control of the Jenin refugee camp and the casbah area of Nablus, the two West Bank areas where 150 Palestinian gunmen have been killed in the heaviest fighting, Israeli and Palestinians sources said last night.
But Mr Sharon, who yesterday co-opted three new right-wing ministers to his coalition government, is still resisting what has now become an angry demand from President Bush for "a withdrawal without delay".
When, eventually, the troops do move back, Mr Sharon said yesterday they would be ordered to retain control of West Bank "buffer zones", to try and prevent a recurrence of the incessant suicide bombings that prompted Israel's massive 11-day reinvasion of Palestinian areas.
In a lengthy address to the Israeli parliament Mr Sharon appeared to indicate he would not sanction any dealings with the Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.
He said the army's mission would continue until "Arafat's terror infrastructure" was dismantled and "the murderers hiding in different places" were arrested. Then Israel would relinquish control to "a responsible Palestinian leadership" which he hoped the Palestinian public would choose to replace Mr Arafat.
A Palestinian official, Ms Hanan Ashrawi, said Mr Sharon's speech was "vindictive and venomous". Mr Saeb Erekat, the former Palestinian peace negotiator, said it constituted "a one-sided declaration of the end of the peace process". It was now obvious that the endgame all along "was to dismantle the Palestinian Authority and resume the occupation".
If Mr Sharon truly intends to stand by his words, it is hard to see any prospect for the US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, mediating a ceasefire. President Bush has used withering language to describe Mr Arafat of late, but has not flatly ruled him out as a negotiating partner.
Indeed, it was Bush Administration pressure that persuaded Mr Sharon to let US envoy Gen Anthony Zinni meet Mr Arafat on Friday.
Mr Powell himself has indicated that he may meet Mr Arafat - again underlining the American awareness that all efforts to achieve progress with the Palestinians depend solely on Mr Arafat.
"Because of you," the left-wing Israeli opposition leader, Mr Yossi Sarid, said yesterday to Mr Sharon, the isolated Mr Arafat was now "more of a hero than ever" to Palestinians.
Israeli officials have indicated that the army might begin pulling out of some Palestinian areas to coincide with Mr Powell's arrival here at the end of the week, but that this might be more "symbolic" than substantive, and forces would not leave areas where armed Palestinians were still opposing them.
In Jenin about 180 gunmen surrendered to the Israeli army after helicopter gunships pounded parts of the refugee camp with missiles, having earlier ordered residents to evacuate. About 100 Palestinians have been reported killed there in the past week; two soldiers were killed in yesterday's exchanges.
Around 100 gunmen surrendered in Nablus, where 50 Palestinians were reported killed. Israel has arrested about 2,000 people, more than half of whom had been released by last night.