MIDDLE EAST: In a reflection of the continuing decrease in violence in the Middle East, the Israeli Defence Minister, Mr Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, headed into a meeting last night with the Palestinian Interior Minister, Mr Abdel Razek Yihiye.
Mr Ben-Eliezer had a proposition to expand the first phase of a plan for a staged withdrawal of the Israeli military, to include parts of the West Bank and not only the Gaza Strip.
"I think the issue of 'Gaza first', which I initiated, will include not only Gaza but also other places," Mr Ben-Eliezer said, referring to the plan whereby Israel will withdraw from those areas in the occupied territories where there is relative quiet, in exchange for a Palestinian crackdown on militants.
The two West Bank cities which might see an early Israeli withdrawal are Bethlehem and Hebron.
"The main idea is to achieve a ceasefire . . . to reach the decisive stage of \ reform and reorganisation so we can enter into a dialogue down the line," Mr Ben-Eliezer said.
While the Palestinian cabinet gave the Gaza first proposal preliminary approval on August 7th, talks which followed between the two sides failed to produce any progress, with the Palestinians citing Israel's refusal to include parts of the West Bank in the initial stage of the plan as the major stumbling block.
Despite the talks, Israel, which reoccupied most of the West Bank cities in June following a series of suicide attacks, continued its sweep for militants yesterday, arresting 15 Palestinians in the West Bank whom it said were involved in terror activity.
With Mr Yasser Arafat facing intense international pressure to reform his Palestinian Authority, allegations of corruption were back in focus over the weekend. A former treasurer of the Palestine Liberation Organisation accused the Palestinian leader of stashing millions of dollars in international aid money in a personal account.
Mr Jawad Ghussein (71) told two of Israel's leading daily newspapers, Yediot Aharonot and Ha'aretz: "I found out how he [Arafat\] took aid money and contributions that were earmarked for the Palestinian people to his own account." Mr Ghussein said he resigned his post in 1996 in protest over corruption in which he said Mr Arafat was involved.
The former PLO financial chief said he was twice abducted by the Palestinian Authority and was held under house arrest in Gaza until two weeks ago.
After recently being transferred to an East Jerusalem hospital for treatment, he was helped out of the region by the British consulate, which granted him an entry visa to the country, and Israel's deputy foreign minister, Mr Michael Melchior, who organised smooth passage for him through Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport.
Palestinian Authority officials denied the allegations yesterday and accused Mr Ghussein of being corrupt, pointing to a $6.5 million loan he took in 1991 and which they say was never repaid.
The Information Minister, Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo, called him a thief and insisted he had been under house arrest on theft charges and had fled while getting medical treatment.