Israel to begin withdrawing troops
Israel will begin withdrawing its troops from Palestinian Authority territory within days and complete the withdrawal inside a fortnight, foreign minister Shimon Peres said today.
His comments were the first high-level indication that Israel intends to comply with US President George Bush’s call five days ago for it to quit the West Bank and Gaza.
They came as US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Morocco on the first leg of a peace mission to the region announced by Mr Bush last Thursday, when he declared the violence must stop.
Meanwhile, the Israeli onslaught in the West Bank continued, with helicopter gunships pounding the refugee camp of Jenin, where Palestinian gunmen were putting up stiff resistance, and fire breaking out near the supposed birthplace of Jesus during fighting in Bethlehem.
Mr Peres told BBC2’s Newsnight that Mr Powell would be allowed to meet Palestinian president Yasser Arafat, who is currently confined by Israeli tanks to his headquarters building in Ramallah.
Speaking in Morocco today, Mr Powell demanded ‘‘a clear statement from Israel that they are beginning to withdraw’’ from Palestinian territories and ‘‘to do it now’’.
And Mr Bush said bluntly: ‘‘I meant what I said to the prime minister of Israel. I expect there to be withdrawal without delay.’’
But US pleas appeared to be falling on deaf ears, as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Knesset in Jerusalem that the offensive would continue until Palestinian militias were crushed.
‘‘The army will continue operating as quickly as possible until the mission has been completed, until it has dismantled Arafat’s terror infrastructure and until the murderers hiding in different places have been arrested,’’ he said.
However, Mr Peres indicated that the withdrawal might have started by the time of Powell’s arrival, telling Newsnight: ‘‘I think that we shall start to move our forces out in a matter of days. We will be concluded in a matter of weeks - two weeks.’’
He denied that Mr Powell’s roundabout route to Israel was designed to buy time for Sharon before a pull-out, insisting: ‘‘You can be cynical, you can be suspicious but I’m telling you, that’s not the case.’’
The Israelis want Mr Powell to meet Mr Arafat, and expect the meeting to take place in Ramallah, said Mr Peres.
Earlier today, Britain signalled growing irritation with Jerusalem’s apparent unwillingness to return to the negotiating table.
Foreign Office minister Ben Bradshaw told Channel 4 News: ‘‘All the signs are that Prime Minister Sharon has taken not a blind bit of notice, not just of American opinion but of world opinion.
‘‘The history of Israeli prime ministers who defy so blatantly what the American President has demanded they do has not been a happy one.’’
