Jerusalem, 21 April 2002
Cabinet Communique
(Communicated by the Cabinet Secretariat)
At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday), April 21, 2002:
1. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon opened the Cabinet meeting by
congratulating all the components of the security establishment - the
IDF, ISA, Israel Police and all who took part in operations in the
framework of Operation Defensive Shield.
Prime Minister Sharon thanked them upon the conclusion of this stage
of the operation stating that Israel achieved great accomplishments
in the framework of Operation Defensive Shield.
2. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer gave a security briefing
during the course of which he announced the arrest of the Ramallah
Tanzim commander. Furthermore, the Defense Minister reported that
three and a half weeks after the IDF set out on Operation Defensive
Shield, it completed its withdrawal from the cities, and deployment
around them, this morning. The IDF continues to surround the Mukata
in Ramallah, and continues to remain in Bethlehem.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer also stated on an operational
level, the IDF actions achieved important accomplishments in
everything relating to damaging the terror infrastructure. The
Defense Minister related to two big achievements of the past week,
the arrest of Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti and the arrest of Hussan
Badran.
3. Prime Minister Sharon raised the issue of the "fact finding
mission" into the events in the Jenin refugee camp decided upon by
the UN Security Council. The Prime Minister related to the other
options available to Israel, as opposed to this agreement, and noted,
that the decision that was made was the least objectionable.
4. Prime Minister Sharon clarified that a number of ministers have
approached him on the issue of the appointment of the Greek Orthodox
Patriarch, and asked to appeal the decision of the ministerial
committee on the issue or to hold a discussion on the subject in the
Cabinet. The Prime Minister stated that after considering the matter,
which is indeed multi-faceted, he decided to honor the ministers'
request to hold a discussion on the subject in a wider forum.
Therefore, the Cabinet decided, based on the Prime Minister's
comments, to suspend the decision of the Ministerial Committee on the
issue of choosing a Greek Orthodox Patriarch of April 15, 2002 until
the convening of the said discussion. In accordance with this
decision, the "Letter of Recognition" will not be granted at this
time.
5. In accordance with the Internal Security Agency Law 2002, the
Cabinet appointed a Ministerial Committee for ISA matters. The
committee is comprised of:
The Prime Minister - Chairman
The Defense Minister
The Justice Minister
The Public Security Minister
Minister Dan Meridor.
The ministerial committee will act on behalf of the government on all
issues required by the Internal Security Agency Law.
The Cabinet decided to apply clause 44 (Secrecy) of Basic Law: The
Government on the deliberations of the committee.