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NY TIMES: 8/20/03
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Palestinian Leader Orders the Arrest of Islamic Militants
By REUTERS
Filed at 12:14 p.m. ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The Palestinian prime minister ordered security services Wednesday to arrest militants behind a Jerusalem suicide bombing that killed 18 people and shattered a truce crucial to a U.S.-led peace plan.
Mahmoud Abbas, who also cut off contact with Islamic militant leaders, acted after Israel shelved its planned handover of occupied cities to Palestinian control, froze high-level talks and reimposed a clampdown on the West Bank.
With the troubled ``road map'' peace plan in jeopardy after Tuesday's bus bombing, Abbas also planned to convene his Cabinet to decide on other security measures against Islamic militants which his government has hitherto hesitated to take.
``There are clear instructions (given) to security forces to follow these people, find them, put them under arrest. We have to use our authority to contain this tough situation and to stop the negative developments,'' Information Minister Nabil Amr told reporters in Ramallah, West Bank seat of Palestinian government.
Israeli troops may have beaten Palestinian police to the punch, arresting 17 suspects in a raid into Hebron, the bomber's hometown, Israel radio said. The volatile West Bank city is largely under Israeli army occupation with Palestinian police sidelined.
Tuesday night, a 29-year-old Muslim cleric disguised as an ultra-Orthodox Jew blew himself up on a bus full of Jewish families returning from prayers at a Jerusalem shrine. Five children, including a baby girl, were among the 18 dead.
Hamas said it was avenging continued Israeli raids that have killed militants despite the seven-week-old cease-fire.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened top security aides to discuss the way ahead after the attack, a severe setback for a peace plan aimed at defusing a militant revolt and at granting Palestinians statehood in the West Bank and Gaza.
DIPLOMATIC PROCESS FROZEN
Israeli officials suggested any military response would be tempered by a desire to avoid further damage to the peace plan.
But Sharon's office said he told President Bush in a telephone call that ``as long as the Palestinians don't act in a serious manner to wipe out terror, there can be no progress in diplomatic routes.''
The attack was a stinging embarrassment to Abbas' moderate government and its stated effort to stanch violence to qualify for a state, for it came as he was talking with militant faction chiefs in Gaza about firming up the flimsy truce.
It was unclear how Abbas would crack down on militants, as Palestinian security forces in the West Bank have been greatly weakened by Israeli offensives. Recent militant attacks have emanated from cities under Israel's military control.
Abbas has also struggled to wrest effective power over the security organs from President Yasser Arafat, who has been accused by Israel and the United States of fomenting bloodshed -- a charge he denies -- and banished from U.S.-led peacemaking.
Abbas condemned the bus blast, saying it ``does not serve the interests of the Palestinian people.'' He called off a scheduled visit to Norway next week, Norwegian officials said.
He has denounced previous bombings in similar terms. But to date he has shied away from breaking up the popular militant groups, citing a fear of civil war.
Israel says Abbas must start neutralizing militants before Israeli forces can ease military operations.
The circular arguments reflect the profound mistrust that has bogged down the road map since its June 4 launch.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad insisted they stood by the cease-fire, as they said after two bombings a week ago. But they said further Israeli raids were provoking reprisals
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