A day after he blocked ceasefire talks between his Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, and the Palestinian Authority President Mr Yasser Arafat, the Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon yesterday issued an extraordinary endorsement of independent Palestinian statehood, but said the Palestinians first had to "stop the terrorism, to live in peace, to live in calm". Israel, said Mr Sharon, would "do everything to achieve a true and open peace" and "wants to give the Palestinians what no one else has heretofore given them - the possibility of establishing a state".
Though vague as to the dimensions of such an independent state, Mr. Sharon's comments, which prompted furious criticism from the Israeli right and no little bemusement on the left, were remarkable given that he was once a firm opponent of Palestinian statehood in any part of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The speech was entirely unexpected, too, given that, on Sunday, Mr Sharon had prevented Mr Peres from holding the first in a scheduled series of meetings with Mr Arafat - meetings designed to pave the way for peace negotiations culminating, presumably, in Palestinian statehood.
Palestinian gunmen yesterday shot dead an Israeli woman in the West Bank - and while responsibility for the killing was claimed by the Islamic Jihad group, which is openly flouting Mr Arafat's ceasefire call, aides to Mr Sharon blamed the Palestinian president, insisting he had failed to confront Islamic militants. Nevertheless, a fragile ceasefire still appeared to be holding in most parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Mr Arafat yesterday travelled to Jordan, and today is set to visit Syria. Mr Sharon and Mr Peres, who were at loggerheads over Sunday's cancelled meeting, have now agreed that the Peres-Arafat talks can be held any time after Mr Arafat returns and after the Jewish Day of Atonement on Thursday - provided relative quiet prevails on the ground.
Mr Arafat had been scheduled to visit Damascus on September 12th, but cancelled the trip in the wake of the previous day's terror attacks in the United States - presumably to avoid stirring American anger at his presence in a state charged by the US with sponsoring terror. His decision now to proceed with the visit, which marks the completion of a gradual process of reconciliation, comes amid Syrian condemnation of the September 11th terrorism, and declared American readiness to have both Syria and the Palestinian Authority included in an anti-terror coalition.
Mr Sharon's remarks about statehood, and his consent to a Peres-Arafat meeting, would appear calculated to mollify the Americans, who are urging both Israel and the PA to ensure that there is no escalation of their conflict to distract from the war on terror. Mr Dan Kurtzer, the US Ambassador here, said pointedly yesterday that the Bush Administration wanted the meeting held "very, very soon". In further conciliatory remarks, aides to the Prime Minister said last night they believed Mr Arafat was now making a determined effort to enforce the ceasefire.
Still, Israel is now demanding the arrest or the transfer for trial of Mr Marwan Barghouti, who heads Mr Arafat's Fatah faction in the West Bank and is alleged by Israel to have organised a series of shooting attacks on West Bank roads.
Israeli leaders are also urging Mr Arafat to close down an exhibit opened yesterday by pro-Hamas students at Nablus's al-Najah university, which depicts the August 9th Hamas suicide bombing of the Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem, in which 15 people were killed. The exhibit, which features a careful replication of the restaurant, complete with store sign and pizza pieces, encourages visitors to carry out similar acts.
To the west of Nablus on the edge of the West Bank, meanwhile, the Israeli army yesterday closed off a strip of territory along the pre-1967 border, or "Green Line", extending 30 km to Jenin - declaring the area a "closed military zone". Palestinian officials branded the move collective punishment; the army said it was designed to prevent the entry to Israel of potential suicide bombers. Perhaps more significantly, on the day where Mr Sharon spoke explicitly of Palestinian statehood, it signaled the de facto construction of part of an Israeli-Palestinian border.