Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner today claimed the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is forming an alliance with hardline Palestinian Islamists, after seven people were killed by two suicide bombers in Jerusalem.
"What we have here is an obvious joint effort by terrorist organisations and I would even say a fatal alliance between Palestinian terrorist organisations and Arafat, who is doing everything he can to scuttle Abu Mazen and Ariel Sharon's efforts to rekindle the peace process," he told reporters.
Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last night in the highest-level Israeli-Palestinian talks since just after the outbreak of the intifada 31 months ago.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the twin Jerusalem bombings, but they came at a crucial time for the survival of the so-called roadmap for peace, which hardline Islamic groups such as Hamas andIslamic Jihad have rejected.
"It is in Yasser Arafat's interest to hamper his rival Abu Mazen, to prove he cannot govern, and for that purpose he has formed an alliance with Hamas and Jihad, in an attempt to stop the revival of the peace process with terrorist acts," Pazner charged.
"We have undeniable evidence that Yasser Arafat is trying toblock the peace process with his favourite weapon: terrorism. We arenow facing a wave of terrorism abetted by Arafat, carried out byIslamist organisations," he added.
"I do not yet know which measures will be taken but we willobviously have to take some to fight against this wave of terrorism,because if it continues, it will crush all peace plans in the MiddleEast," Pazner said.
Shortly after the twin attacks in annexed east Jerusalem, theIsraeli army slapped a curfew on the nearby West Bank city ofRamallah, where Arafat has his headquarters.
The veteran Palestinian leader's headquarters were besieged bythe Israeli army twice since the beginning of the Palestinianuprising in September 2000, and he has been virtually unable toleave his compound since December 2001.
AFP