11/14/2001

By The Associated Press

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian police arrested a top Islamic Jihad activist in the West Bank town of Jenin on Wednesday, setting off a violent protest against Yasser Arafat's security force.

The arrest came as Secretary of State Colin Powell scheduled a key Middle East policy speech for next week. An Israeli peace campaigner and a Palestinian spokeswoman said the United States no longer backs Israel's demand for seven days of complete calm before peace talks resume.

Islamic Jihad leaders said Palestinian police pulled Mahmoud Tawalbi off a Jenin street and whisked him to a prison in Nablus, 15 miles to the south. They said Tawalbi, 23, was suspected by Israel of recruiting suicide bombers and sending them into Israel.

About 3,000 Palestinians protesting the arrest surrounded Palestinian Preventive Security headquarters in Jenin, firing guns, throwing grenades and burning cars. A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Tawalbi had been arrested.

Suicide bombers from Islamic Jihad and Hamas have killed dozens of Israelis and wounded hundreds in nearly 14 months of fighting.

Israel welcomed the arrest. Raanan Gissin, spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said it shows the Palestinians "are doing what they are supposed to do." He said Tawalbi had been arrested in the past. "This time I hope they will keep him behind bars," he said.

Israel has been demanding that Arafat order the arrest of militants, and the U.S. State Department has also told Arafat to move against the violent groups.

In Washington, the State Department said Powell would deliver a speech on Middle East policy Monday at the University of Louisville. In a speech to the United Nations on Saturday, President Bush said the goal of U.S. policy is a Palestinian state living in peace next to Israel. In an interview Sunday, Powell referred to Palestine, saying the state-in-making should be called by its proper name.

Palestinians have welcomed the new U.S. initiative, but Israeli officials are skeptical. Sharon has insisted there can be no negotiations until all violence stops. Up to now, the United States has gone along with that.

But that may be changing, said Israeli peace activist Yossi Beilin and Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi, after separate meetings with State Department officials.

They said the seven days of calm Israel requires to precede an agreed-on program for restarting peace talks is no longer a prerequisite, as far as the United States is concerned.

Ashrawi said U.S. officials "knew there wouldn't be 100 percent quiet, given the fact of the (Israeli) occupation, but there would be an attempt to calm the situation and build confidence."

Beilin told Israel radio that U.S. officials, including Powell, realized the seven-day requirement "is a recipe for never getting to talks."

Israeli officials said they had not been told of a change in the U.S. position. Gissin, Sharon's spokesman, said, "You can't make the rules as you go along."

Two plans are on the table. A cease-fire package negotiated by CIA director George Tenet is supposed to lead to a multistaged process recommended by an international commission headed by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, calling for a cooling-off period, confidence-building measures and finally resumption of peace talks.

One of the measures is a freeze on construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Though Israel has accepted the Mitchell plan, it is not eager to implement the freeze. Palestinians insist that stopping settlement growth is a key element in the process.

Israel has insisted on a week with no attacks followed by a six-week cooling-off period, but those time frames do not appear in the documents.

In Gaza, about 2,000 Palestinians marched to mark the 13th anniversary of Arafat's declaration of Palestinian independence. Signs and chants called on Arafat to declare an independent Palestinian state now.