Arafat says he will unilaterally enforce a cease-fire

By IBRAHIM BARZAK
Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Tuesday he is unilaterally enforcing a cease-fire with Israel and offered to help the United States in its campaign against terrorism. In new fighting, two Palestinians were killed.

In an unusually conciliatory speech, Arafat also said he remains committed to negotiating a peace agreement with Israel and that he recognizes Israel's right to live in secure borders.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said he welcomed "the new tone" and hoped it would continue. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took Arafat's message "seriously," said German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who spoke to Sharon by phone.

However, Defense Ministry spokesman Yarden Vatikay was skeptical, saying Israel was waiting for results on the ground.

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said Arafat's "call to restraint must be heard by all."

Arafat had spoken twice before this week about his willingness to halt the yearlong fighting. But Tuesday's announcement, made to 35 foreign diplomats called to his Gaza City office, was the clearest yet and reflected an apparent eagerness to be seen as supportive of U.S. policy.

A senior Palestinian official, speaking privately, said Arafat hoped to start a new chapter with Israel. The official suggested the dramatic events of the past week might have created the opportunity for this to happen if Israel does its part to bring down the violence.

In the wake of the terror attacks on New York and Washington last week, the United States has urged Israel and the Palestinians to hold truce talks as soon as possible.

Washington is trying to forge an international anti-terror coalition, with one of the targets expected to be Osama bin Laden, the Islamic militant named as a prime suspect in the U.S. attacks.

A new flare-up in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would likely disrupt U.S. efforts to bring many Arab states into its coalition.

Arafat has said he was ready to meet Peres at any time. Sharon has been reluctant, saying Israel would only agree to such meetings after a 48-hour period of complete calm.

Vatikay, the Defense Ministry official, said Arafat's government has been "acting like a terrorist group for a year," and that Israel was having trouble believing Arafat. "Now we want to see results," Vatikay said of Arafat's truce offer.

Arafat said Tuesday he was committed to a truce and was doing his utmost to enforce it. He said he has ordered his security forces "to act intensively in securing a cease-fire on all our fronts." Even if his men came under fire, he said, they were to show "maximum restraint."

Several U.S.-led truce efforts have collapsed in the past year, with each side accusing the other of being the aggressor.

In recent days, Israel has stepped up its retaliation for Palestinian shooting attacks on Israelis, with Israeli tanks repeatedly entering Palestinian territory. In the past week, 26 Palestinians and six Israelis have been killed.

Arafat also said he has informed the United States of his "readiness to be part of the international alliance for ending terrorism against unarmed, innocent civilians."

Arafat's emerging shift in policy was likely to renew friction with the Islamic militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Senior Muslim clergymen linked to Hamas issued a religious edict Tuesday against participation in the U.S. alliance, saying it would be blasphemous.

Siding with the United States against any Muslim "will be one of the biggest crimes, and treason against God, the Prophet Muhammad and the believers," said Sheik Hamed Bitawi, making the announcement in the West Bank town of Nablus.

Before dawn Tuesday, five Israeli tanks and a bulldozer drove into an area south of Gaza City where a seaport is under construction, tearing down the fence and destroying eight rooms, the Palestinian Sea Port Authority said.

Work on the port had stopped after the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

Also, a Gaza City neighborhood came under Israeli tank fire. There were no injuries but several houses were damaged, Palestinian security officials said.

The Israeli army said it shelled the targets – a Palestinian police station and several nearby buildings – in response to a Palestinian mortar attack on a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

Also Tuesday, two Palestinians driving a tractor toward an Israeli military post near the West Bank town of Nablus came under Israeli fire, and one of the men was killed. The army said the tractor failed to stop after soldiers fired into the air.

In the West Bank town of Hebron, a Palestinian taxi driver's body was retrieved from the scene of intense overnight gun battles between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers, doctors said.

APNP-09-18-01 1039CDT