The Situation

Monday-Friday mid-day reports from Israel by Robert Rosenberg
Images by Silvia Rosenberg (unless otherwise noted)

Shooting and talking

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Fear the fear, painting by Silvia Rosenberg

But a lone Palestinian sniper, apparently from the Bethlehem area, and carrying an AK-47 in a rolled up straw rug, made his way this morning to a point overlooking a checkpoint on the Jerusalem Bethlehem road, unrolled the mat as if to pray, and then shot dead two soldiers before making an escape in a hail of bullets fired back at him.

Bethlehem has been unique among West bank towns and cities for the last four and a half months, since the army pulled out of the city and handed over security control to the Palestinians, and as long as things remained quiet, the army eased conditions for Bethlehemites. It was easier for them to get to Jerusalem, easier for them to move merchandise, easier for them to get to schools. All that changed within hours of this morning’s shooting.

The army announced it was clamping down again on the entrances and exits from the city, sent troops into its suburbs looking for the shooter, and informed the Palestinian security services in Bethlehem, with whom a modus vivendi of cooperation had emerged over the last few months, that troops would be moving closer to the city center if necessary, in the hunt for the shooter. The implication was clear – the Palestinian security services should do more than ‘show efforts,’ as one IDF senior officer called it on Israel Radio, to capture the shooter.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, speaking from Brussels where he would be meeting U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell later today, told Israel Radio ‘There's no doubt that after what happened this morning, the possibilities of discussions toward preparations for renewal of the [peace] process appear very distant.’ Presumably the more liberal-dovish Justice Minister and Shinui leader Yosef Lapid told Army Radio ‘What happened this morning casts doubt on the frankness’ with which the new government of Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei’ is prepared to fight terrorism.

But the shooting has not halted Egyptian Minister for Intelligence Affairs Gen. Omar Suleiman’s efforts to nail down a cease-fire deal. He met with Yasser Arafat and in Rammalah yesterday and later in the day with Mossad chief Meir Dagan. The Egyptians have American backing in the cease-fire efforts, and the Israelis, like the new Palestinian government, are under pressure to at least appear to cooperate with a cease-fire. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said his organization was not interested in a ‘ceasefire with the enemy,’ but saw no reason to turn down talks with either Suleiman or Qurei’. Deputy Defense Minister Ze’ev Boim told Israel Radio that if the new cease-fire is meant to be “an envelope under which the terror organizations can continue to prepare for their attacks, then it will be waste of time.’

The latest pressure on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is in Italy for meetings with his best friend in Europe, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, comes from a public opinion poll published today showing that at least a quarter of Likud Central Committee members support a withdrawal from Netzarim, in Gaza. According to Israel Radio political analyst Hanan Kristal, that 25 percent in favor would change overnight to 75 percent in favor, if Sharon were to actually make the announcement for such a withdrawal. There are stubborn reports in the Israeli press that just such an announcement is already written, and on Sharon’s desk, awaiting his decision to go ahead with it.

And in Istanbul, the six Jewish victims of Saturday’s car bombings were laid to rest today.

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