JERUSALEM - A sceptical Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, is giving Yasser Arafat a breathing space to implement the ceasefire the Palestinian leader promised yesterday in response to a suicide attack in Tel Aviv, which killed 20 young Israelis and the bomber at a beach-front disco.
Mr Sharon's Cabinet authorised troops to strike back at the Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders believed to be behind this and earlier bombings, but not to initiate attacks on mainstream Palestinian Authority targets.
The Defence Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, has already imposed an unprecedentedly severe blockade on the two million West Bank and Gaza Palestinians. All crossings into Israel were closed, as were Gaza port and airport. Border patrols were reinforced. Only essential food and medical supplies were allowed in. Day labourers were barred from jobs in Israel, and police rounded up about 1,000 people staying there illegally. Mr Arafat was stranded in Ramallah, his West Bank administrative capital.
The Palestinian legislator, Hanan Ashrawi, protested: "This is slow strangulation. Ramallah is like a ghost town. There is a total siege. People can't get into town ... Most of the shops are closed. Everybody is waiting for something to happen."
After announcing yesterday that he would "do everything necessary for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire", Mr Arafat ordered his security chiefs to increase patrols and prevent violence, especially at points of friction such as Israeli checkpoints. His officials also met leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and urged them to follow suit. Hamas yesterday claimed responsibility for Friday's bombing.
Mr Arafat had previously demanded that Israel freeze all settlement construction, something Mr Sharon steadily rejected. Palestinian sources acknowledged yesterday that he had come under extreme pressure from America, Europe and the United Nations, horrified by the disco bombing, to halt the violence.
- INDEPENDENT
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