Israel holds off retaliation for now

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), JUNE 3. Israel has decided to hold back for a day or two before it retaliates for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that took place on Saturday. The Israeli security Cabinet which has openly accused the Palestinian Authority and its President, Mr. Yasser Arafat, of being engaged in terrorism, has said that it will closely monitor the manner in which the Authority implements a ceasefire it ordered yesterday. They have, however, upped their demands and are now demanding that the Palestinian Authority arrest Islamic militants and stop incitements over the electronic media besides implementing the ceasefire.

Israel's withdrawal yesterday of a unilateral ceasefire and its barely veiled threat to annihilate the Palestinian Authority has wiped out any gains that could have accrued to Mr. Arafat by his own declaration of a ceasefire. Till the suicide bomber killed 20, including himself in Tel Aviv, Mr. Arafat could have presented a ceasefire order as an act of statesmanship. Now, it will appear as if the order has been issued out of fear of a massive Israeli retaliation.

In the actual sequence of events, Mr. Arafat's public offer of a ceasefire and a follow-up order to his troops might have come before the Israel Cabinet issued its strongly worded statement. The offer of a ceasefire, accompanied by a statement condemning attacks on civilians, was issued by evening yesterday. At night, Mr. Arafat ordered his security forces in writing to ``implement a total and immediate ceasefire on Israeli targets, in all sectors under the Palestinian Authority's control, even by force''.

The Authority also announced that its forces would be deployed in the field to ensure the implementation of the ceasefire. All the Palestinian security agencies as well as the three political organisations - Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad - were consulted and their co-operation sought for this purpose.

For the first time since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising, Mr. Arafat also declared that he was ready to do ``whatever is necessary to achieve an immediate and unconditional ceasefire with Israel''.

The wording of this statement made it exactly in line with what the international committee had recommended and in tune with demands by the U.S. and the European Union. If Mr. Arafat had issued this order in a context in which no suicide bombing or similar atrocity had taken place it would have brought him much prestige and the favour of the U.S.

Fearful of a massive Israeli attack, the Palestinian Authority had closed its official buildings and emptied its security establishments early yesterday. In delaying the ceasefire order till the occurrence of a horrifying suicide bombing that was always on the cards, the Palestinian Authority has forfeited the chance to present it as an act of statesmanship. In offering the ceasefire in a context where it appeared to have been made in fear of Israeli retaliation, the Authority also did damage to the prestige it had won by the power of resistance that the Palestinians had displayed over the past eight months.

Israel has been quick to seize on this opportunity. A tussle had been going on within Israeli society and within its Government about the degree of restraint or reprisal that would be an appropriate response to the Saturday bombing. Given the signs of nerves in the Palestinian camp, however, the Israeli security Cabinet issued a statement that was clearly intended to fixate the idea that the Palestinian ceasefire order was directly connected to the fears of an Israeli attack.

The savagely-worded statement accused the Palestinian Authority and Mr. Arafat of being involved in terrorism, of encouraging it and inciting hatred.

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Section  : International
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