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Albright faces difficult task in Mideast

Palestinian security in training

In this report:

September 8, 1997
Web posted at: 10:40 p.m. EDT (0240 GMT)

JERICHO, West Bank (CNN) -- On the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's trip to the Mideast, Palestinian security forces on Monday arrested 35 Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists.

"We have to take preventative measures that will prevent any kind of terrorist attack or violence," said Brig. Jibril Rajoub, the Palestinian security chief.

The arrests are the result of pressure from the Americans and Israelis, who have let the Palestinians know publicly and privately that ending Palestinian terrorism is imperative before anything constructive can come of peace negotiations.

No one believes that the arrests will be enough to stop terrorism. In fact, in a leaflet Monday, Hamas vowed that suicide bombings against Israel would continue and appealed to Albright not to put pressure on the Arab side.

leaflet

Albright on Tuesday begins her first trip to the Mideast as secretary of state. She is expected to visit Israel, the West Bank, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and possibly Lebanon.

Her intention is to ease the "crisis of confidence" that has existed between the Israelis and Palestinians since the bombing of a Tel Aviv cafe in March that derailed peace negotiations.

Two more multi-suicide bombings in Jerusalem since then have kept anxiety high, and resulted in arrests and strict curbs imposed by the Israelis on Palestinian mobility even within their own territories.

Netanyahu's mantra: Stop the terrorism

Following last week's bombing in Jerusalem, Israeli media reports say the explosives used in both Jerusalem attacks were prepared in a Hamas bomb factory uncovered by Palestinian police two months ago.

But Rajoub says there is still no proof to link the bombers directly to areas under Palestinian control.

Rajoub

"This is nonsense," he said. "Israel told us immediately after they examined the explosives there is no connection."

The daily mantra from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a demand that the Palestinian Authority carry out mass arrests and crush extremist Islamic groups.

"Yasser Arafat must be made to live up to his promise to fight the terrorists -- to stop coddling them," Netanyahu said Monday. "If he does, it would be a major move forward and we could move toward achieving a final settlement."

Israel has frozen the scheduled return of West Bank land to the Palestinians until it is satisfied that Arafat is taking steps to stop the bombings.

Albright to talk tough to both sides

Stalling on the handover is effectively a violation of the Oslo peace accords, and it has drawn an angry response from Israeli Foreign Minister David Levi. Levi called it a dangerous tactic, and drew immediate applause from Palestinian leaders.

Meanwhile, Israel continues its pressure on the Palestinians, sealing off West Bank towns from each other, and closing Israel to those living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

According to a senior U.S. State Department official, Albright is expected to take a hard line with Arafat and Netanyahu.

She is expected to encourage Arafat to do everything he can to halt terrorism and give Israel reason to believe it has nothing to fear from the Palestinians. She is expected to remind Netanyahu that Israel's part of the bargain is to withdraw from the West Bank, and she will urge him to stick to it.

Her most difficult task, however, will be convincing Arafat and Netanyahu after all that has happened in the past six months that they can, indeed, trust each other.

Correspondent Jerrold Kessel contributed to this report.

 
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