Israel orders truce

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), MAY 23. Israel has offered a ceasefire and taken some steps in this direction but the initial Palestinian reaction is to treat it as a charade. There are ambiguities in the terms that have been offered and Israel has often displayed an ability to wriggle through the loop-holes but there does seem to be substance to the offer that Israel has made.

The offer of an immediate ceasefire was made by Israel's Prime Minister, Mr. Ariel Sharon, at a public address yesterday during which he also asked the Palestinian Authority to reciprocate in the same manner. Through a statement issued by his office later, Mr. Sharon added content to his offer by saying that he had issued specific orders to his troops in two respects. The Israeli Defence Forces have been ordered to not fire at Palestinians unless the lives of soldiers or Israeli civilians was in danger. The Israeli armed forces have also been ordered not to make any incursions into Palestinian-controlled territory. These measures are in accord with the recommendations made by the international committee headed by former U.S. Senator, Mr. George Mitchell.

Mr. Sharon's orders, if faithfully implemented, can have a substantial effect on the situation on the ground. It amounts to a decision to wind up, even if temporarily, the pro- active policy that Israel has been carrying out of late. Under this policy, Israeli troops were taking up positions inside Palestinian controlled territory and using them as fire-bases even when there was no direct provocation from the Palestinian side. The idea behind this policy, Israeli defence sources had explained, was to take the initiative and carry the battle to the other side before they had the chance to organise themselves and plan. Although presented as a defensive procedure such measures are aggressive by their very nature and had the potential to thrust the situation totally out of control.

While the winding up of the pro-active policy is an important step, the Palestinians are understandably more sceptical of the Israeli announcement that they will not open fire unless lives are under threat. Israeli troops have tended to give a wide interpretation to the term ``lives under threat''. They have fired live rounds at Palestinian gunmen, stone-throwers and even demonstrators in circumstances where Israeli life could at best be described as being remotely under threat. Palestinian concerns in this regard would not have been allayed by Mr. Sharon's observation yesterday that stones too were weapons. Whether these orders are being faithfully implemented will only become clear when Israeli troops open fire as a last resort and in circumstances where life seems to be really under threat.

In taking the initiative to declare a ceasefire, the Israeli Government might have been cynically trying to win points on the international stage. Nevertheless they were the ones to take the first step towards implementing the Mitchell recommendations. It would be difficult for the Palestinian Authority to not respond in a similar manner. The Authority has expressed its ire at Mr. Sharon's rejection of another Mitchell committee recommendation that building in Jewish settlements must be frozen. Mr. Sharon has finally declared that he will not appropriate any more Palestinian lands for the expansion of settlements.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Next     : Thatcher leaves Tories red in the face