PA Has Failed to Fulfill Its Commitments Under the Hebron Accord
The Israel Government Press Office released a comprehensive 35-page report
assessing Israeli and Palestinian compliance with the Hebron Accord. The
report is being issued to mark six months since the signing and
implementation of the agreement in January 1997. The full report is
available on the internet site of the Prime Minister's Office
(http://www.pmo.gov.il) in the policy papers/fact sheet section.
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Israeli Compliance
The report notes that since the signing of the Hebron Accord, Israel has
fulfilled all of its commitments. Israeli forces redeployed in Hebron.
Israel approved the first stage of the further redeployment from the West
Bank, released Palestinian women prisoners, resumed negotiations with the
PA on outstanding Interim Agreement issues and offered to resume final
status talks.
Palestinian Security Violations
According to the report, the PA has violated the fundamental security
provisions of the Hebron accord. Rather than contain disturbances, the
Palestinian police organized riots in Hebron in March-April 1997 and
June-July 1997 and failed to contain Palestinians who surged towards the
Jewish Quarter. In many cases, the PA paid youths 30 to 50 shekels per day
for taking part in riots and attacking Israeli soldiers. The PA has
deployed 1,500 policemen in Hebron, which is nearly four times the 400
allowed, and it has armed them with weapons forbidden by the agreement.
Palestinian Violations of the Note for Record
The report notes that the PA has failed to fulfill any of its 4
obligations contained in the Note for the Record: amending the Covenant,
combating terror, reducing the size of its police force and restricting
its governmental activity to areas under its control.
1. Failure to Change the PLO Covenant - The Palestinians have not taken
any steps toward completing the amendment process. To date, no new version
of the Covenant has yet been submitted to the Palestinian National
Council.
2. Failure to Fight Terror and Prevent Violence - One of the PAs gravest
violations of the Note for the Record has been its failure to combat
terror, an obligation which the Note breaks down into six specific
measures required of the PA:
2a. Strengthening Security Cooperation - The PA broke off security
cooperation with Israel earlier this year, despite warnings of impending
terrorist activity. Palestinian security officials refused to meet their
Israeli counterparts and refrained from exchanging intelligence
information. Recently, security cooperation has improved slightly, but the
PA has thus far refused to restore the level that existed previously.
2b. Incitement to Violence Against Israel - Senior PA officials have
repeatedly engaged in incitement to violence against Israel. They have
praised Hamas and the intifada, threatened Israel with war, and accused
Israel of injecting Palestinians with the AIDS virus and poisoning
Palestinian food products. More than 30 such statements made by senior PA
officials are documented in the report.
2c. Combat Systematically and Effectively Terrorist Organizations and
Infrastructure
The PA has taken no steps to outlaw terror groups, whose infrastructure
remains intact. At a secret meeting held in Gaza on the night of March 9,
1997, Arafat met with the heads of Hamas, the DFLP and the PFLP, who left
the meeting with the understanding to renew terror against Israel. Eleven
days later, 3 Israelis died in a Hamas bombing in Tel Aviv on March 21,
1997.
In mid-July 1997 it became clear that the Palestinian police have been
actively involved in terror. Israeli intelligence has confirmed that
Asst.-Cmdr. Jihad Masimi of the PA police in Nablus has ordered attacks,
that there are several terror cells in the Palestinian police, and that
there are strong indications that Palestinian Police Chief Ghazi Jabali is
involved.
2d. Apprehension, Prosecution and Punishment of Terrorists - Terrorists
have not been tried by the PA for terror activity against Israel in the
past 6 months. The PA has drafted numerous terrorists to serve in the
ranks of its security services, including at least 23 wanted for the
murder of Israelis. The PA Police Commander has acknowledged that more
than 150 members of Hamas and the PFLP are currently working in key
positions in the Palestinian police. Since the signing of the Hebron
Accord, the PA has released dozens of terrorists from detention,
including: Muhammad Khawaja, a senior Islamic Jihad leader who planned the
January 1995 Beit Lid bombing; Nabil Sharihi, a member of Islamic Jihad
who helped prepare the bomb used in the April 1995 Kfar Darom attack in
which 7 Israelis and 1 American were killed; Imjad Hinawi - a Hamas member
who took part in the murder of 17-year old David Boim in Beit El in May
1996.
2e. Transfer of Terror Suspects to Israel - On March 31, 1997, Israel
submitted 31 requests to the PA for the transfer of terror suspects. Thus
far, the PA has failed to hand over any of the suspects to Israel. Of the
31 terror suspects whose transfer is being sought by Israel, 11 are either
serving in the Palestinian police or are in the process of joining its
ranks. Among those being sought are: Ibrahim Alkam, Abdel Nasser Alkaisi
and Ibrahim Hani, wanted for the murder of Etta Tzur and her 12-year old
son Ephraim on December 11, 1996; Bassam Issa - behind the terror attack
in Jerusalem on October 9, 1994 in which two people were killed; and
Hisham Salim Dib, who was behind the March 4, 1996 Dizengoff suicide
bombing which killed 13 people.
2f. Confiscation of illegal firearms - No public campaigns or major sweeps
have been undertaken by the PA to confiscate illegal weapons. As a result,
virtually none of the tens of thousands of weapons circulating in the
autonomous areas have been collected by the PA in the past six months.
Five illegally armed groups continue to operate in the PA areas: 1) Hamas;
2) Islamic Jihad; 3) Fatah; 4) PFLP and 5) DFLP. Smuggling, illicit
production and lax PA enforcement have led to a rise in the number of
illegal weapons in the PA areas.
3. Size of Palestinian Police - The PA has deployed more than 30,000
policemen in the West Bank and Gaza, exceeding the agreed upon limit by
over 6,000, or more than 25%.
4. Restriction of PA governmental activity to Areas Under its Control -
The PA is active in Jerusalem in spheres ranging from education to health
to religious affairs. Numerous PA offices such as the Orient House, the
Religious Affairs Ministry and the Education Ministry are operating in the
city. Plainclothesmen from four Palestinian security forces are currently
active in the eastern part of the city, operating on its main
thoroughfares and on the Temple Mount. They conduct detentions,
intelligence-gathering, criminal investigations and enforce orders issued
by PA Chairman Arafat.