Israel reacted to the assassiantion Wednesday of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi with ultimatums to the Palestinian leadership, on which blame was pinned for the killing.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the assassination and President Arafat, who has gained a lot in the past few days, has ordered the arrest of those behind the operation, claimed by the the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres urged Arafat to rein in activists, warning that all peace hopes were now in peril.
"All our efforts will go up in smoke," if Arafat does not arrest Palestinian militants,” Peres said, after Zeevi was gunned down in Jerusalem by PFLP in revenge for the assassination of its own leader, Israeli radio reported, said AFP.
Peres, in a statement issued by his ministry, said he was "stunned" by the "sordid murder" of Zeevi.
"Despite ideological differences," the dovish foreign minister paid tribute to the tourism minister's "courage, determination and sense of responsibility during the many years that he spent in the army."
Peres, the main architect of the 1993 Oslo peace accords, has already called on Arafat several times to arrest Palestinians accused of "terrorism" by Israel.
Earlier, Israel suspended all contact with the PA and reinstalled the blockade it had partially lifted off the Palestinian lands as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon blamed Arafat for the killing.
"I hold Arafat fully responsible, inasmuch as he set the terrorism in motion, even though he knew very well what the consequences would be," Sharon told a sepcial session of the Israeli parliament convened to pay respect to the slain minister and former general.
"We will wage a war without mercy against the terrorists" Sharon warned. "Only criminal terrorists could dream of assassinating elected members of a democratic state," he said.
Sharon had summoned members of his security cabinet in Jerusalem to consider a response to the attack.
PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP CONDEMNS KILLING OF ZEEVI AND ASSASSINATION POLICY
The Palestinian Authority condemned the killing of Zeevi, as well as Israel's own policy of political assassinations in the year-old intifada or uprising.
"The Palestinian Authority rejects completely and condemns all acts of assassination," a statement said.
"We give our condolences to the Israeli government," it added.
The Palestinian Authority asserted its opposition to "assassination on all levels, even in the case of Zeevi, the radical one," the statement said, alluding to Zeevi's extremist ideology in favor of expelling all Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Authority also reaffirmed its commitment to the ailing ceasefire agreement hammered out between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on September 26.
"The Palestinian Authority confirms its decision in favor of a complete ceasefire amd will do what they have to do in these matters according to the law," it said.
EU CONDEMNS ‘COWARDLY ASSASSINATION’
The European Union condemned "in the strongest terms the "cowardly" assassination, saying "this criminal act will not interrupt the most recent efforts of the Israeli and Palestinian authorities" toward peace.
France, Britain and Germany, joined by the European Commission, quickly spoke out, expressing shock and condemnation of the killing.
The attack "will most certainly slow down efforts for the Middle East peace process," a European Commission spokesman said, cited by AFP.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana himself said Wednesday "I would like to condemn in the strongest possible terms the assassination this morning of Rehavam Zeevi."
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, who earlier this week met in London with Arafat, said "we condemn utterly this contemptible act of violence."
He urged "restraint on all sides in response to the men of violence who only want to wreck any proposals for peace.
On Monday, the British prime minister had given his most public support yet for a "viable" Palestinian state, which would coexist peacefully alongside Israel.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, due to embark on a new peace mission to the Middle East next week, expressed his dismay and
conveyed his condolences to Peres and Zeevi's family.
LEBANON’S REFUGEES DANCE WITH JOY
Hundreds of Palestinians in Lebanese refugee camps danced with joy as they celebrated the assassination.
Streaming in from all corners of Ain el-Helweh camp in southern Lebanon of 60,000 residents, jubilant Palestinians gathered in front of the PFLP offices there .
Flashing the "V for victory" sign, they shouted "mabruk," the Arabic word for congratulations.
PFLP activists handed out sweets, while youths waved the Palestinian and PFLP flags.
Others, wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the portrait of slain PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustapha formed circles, arms round each other's shoulders, and danced the dabka.
"Our heros have avenged Abu Ali Mustapha and the martyrs of the Intifada killed by Zionist bullets," said Hussein, a 55-year-old grocer, who closed his shop to join the "party."
PFLP spokesman Abu Talal told AFP in Ain el-Helweh that "the heroic action of our fighters is a normal response to the crimes perpetrated by Sharon against Abu Ali Mustapha and the heroes of the Intifada." Mustapha was killed on August 27, when Israeli helicopter gunships blasted his Ramallah office with missiles as part of a policy of eliminating alleged "terrorists".
The PFLP had sworn that the assassination would not go unpunished.
ISRAEL CABINET REBEL RECONSIDERS RESIGNATION AFTER MURDER OF ALLY
Israel's National Infrastructure Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday he was considering withdrawing his resignation from the government after the slaying of Zeevi, his fellow cabinet rebel.
"After this attack, we are asking ourselves what Rehavam Zeevi would have done, and we will reach a decision very soon," said Lieberman, who tendered his resignation Monday, together with Zeevi, in protest at the government's peace moves.
Their resignation had been due to come into effect at 1:30 pm (1130 GMT). The pull-out of their ultra-nationalist bloc had been strongly opposed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who would nonetheless have retained a comfortable majority in the Knesset.
Lieberman, head of the Russian-immigrant Israeli-Beitenu which was allied in parliament with Zeevi's National Union, said: "The reality has changed. It is impossible to carry on as if nothing had happened."
JEWISH SETTLERS WANT ARAFAT'S HEAD IN REVENGE FOR MINISTER'S MURDER
Jewish settlers demanded that Israel "eliminate" Arafat in revenge for the slaying of the right-wing politician, a champion of the Jewish communities illegally implanted on the Palestinian territories.
"The first thing which needs to be done is the elimination of the Palestinian Authority and Yasser Arafat," David Wilder, spokesman for the ultra-Orthodox settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron, epicenter of the radical settler movement, told AFP.
When asked if he was calling for the army to assassinate Arafat, Wilder said: "Yasser Arafat is the head of a snake that represents practices of terror. If you don't chop off the head of the snake, it continues to attack and kill."
HAMAS: ISRAEL REAPS WHAT IT SOWS
Hamas cheered the slaying of Zeevi as the consequences of Israel's policy of assassinating Palestinian leaders during the year-old intifada or uprising.
"I think the reasons for the shooting of Zeevi was (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon and his policies, which included the assassination of political leaders and children," said Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Al Rantissi, whose own group has been battered by Israel's policy of eliminating political leaders.
"Who started killing political leaders? The Jews. And now they pay the price," Rantisi added.
"They chose to be killed. We accept this game." – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
