A POLITE request from the visiting British Foreign Secretary, Mr Malcolm Rifkind, that Israel end its policy of protracted "closures" of the West Bank and Gaza Strip fell on deaf ears in Jerusalem yesterday, as the Israeli security forces went on high alert over fears of an imminent Islamic extremist bombing.
Mr Rifkind objected to the Israeli habit of sealing off the West Bank and Gaza whenever it perceives a security threat - barring Palestinian workers from jobs in Israel, and blockading Palestinian trade. "If the Palestinian people do not believe their economic interests are being served," he said, "then they feel they have less to lose."
Mr Rifkind's argument was well made, but the Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, was hardly listening. Last night, he was closeted with all his top security chiefs, amid heavily censored reports of specific bombing alerts at major Israeli cities. A "closure order remained in force. And throughout the day, police and the army set up roadblocks on border roads and deep inside the country, causing lengthy traffic jams. Sixty three people died in the last wave of four Islamic suicide bombings inside Israel, last spring.
The threat of Islamic bombers is not Mr Netnayahu's only security headache. He is also grappling with the ongoing tension on the Syrian border. Indeed, his Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy, asked Mr Rifkind, who is soon to meet the Syrian Foreign Minister, Mr Farouq al Sharaa, in London, to urge Damascus to resume peace talks.
As far as the Israelis were concerned, Mr Rifkind's visit was of only minor significance, and he proved an exemplary guest. In stark contrast to that other recent European visitor, President Jacques Chirac of France, the British minister did not tangle publicly with his Israeli bodyguards to ensure favourable coverage in the Arab media. He steered well clear of the PLO's controversial Jerusalem headquarters, the Orient House.
Visiting Hebron yesterday afternoon, before travelling on to Gaza for talks with Yasser Arafat he did not even expressly endorse the idea of independent Palestinian statehood. And the bus load of British journalists escorting him on his visit even got a taste of Palestinian violence, when their Israeli registered vehicle took a rock on the front windscreen en route to Hebron.
The British Minister expressed "great concern" over the deadlock in peace efforts, but said he thought there was "a real prospect" of a final deal on the Israeli military withdrawal from Hebron "in the near future." Indeed, Mr Arafat is now talking of signing the renegotiated accord next week in Cairo, where President Hosni Mubarak is hosting a regional economic conference.