Note: The translations of articles from the Hebrew press are prepared by the Government Press Office as a service to foreign journalists in Israel. They express the views of the authors.
THE HAMAS IS GUILTY, ARAFAT IS RESPONSIBLE
(Analysis by Ron Ben-Yishai, "Yediot Aharonot", July 31, 1997 p. 1)
Arafat quickly declared yesterday that he will arrest Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists. He knows that this time he cannot shake off responsibility.
Not just Netanyahu and Clinton, but also Arafat knows that the attack could have been prevented had his intelligence service acted as required by the Oslo Accords. But Arafat preferred domestic peace with Hamas and the Jihad. He therefore left them alone, especially Hamas, to rebuild their leadership and operational infrastructure. The price of his appeasement was paid yesterday by 13 Israelis who gave their lives, and 170 who were wounded, in the Mahane Yehuda Market bombing.
Arafat did not want attacks within the Green Line, but gave legitimacy to "small" attacks against settlers and soldiers in the territories. Showy attacks on Israeli territory disrupt his attempts to obtain world support. He therefore tried to reach an agreement with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad: I will let you live, and you will sit quietly until the "big bang".
Hamas agreed because its infrastructure was devastated until a few months ago, and because while the peace process was frozen, it had no reason to act. The organization, whose extremist leaders Arafat had freed from prison, concentrated on rehabilitating its capability under the closed eyes of Dahalan and Rajub. Hamas avoided terrorist attacks on Israeli territory, except for two incidents: The attack at "Apropro" cafe and placing a bomb (that did not explode) on the Tel Aviv beach. Hamas preferred to avoid unnecessary and premature conflict with the Palestinian Authority. Nor did Hamas bother Arafat as he pushed Israel into the corner in the global arena.
But things fell apart recently. The Hamas leadership, which reorganized and aligned with the most extreme position (Yassin, Rantisi, Marzuk and their ilk), reached a strategic decision: To prevent Arafat any opportunity to resume the peace process. This was the basis of the warning given at the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee by the Chief-of-Staff. This week hinted at the possibility of renewed negotiations - Dennis Ross was supposed to arrive in the region today, and the joint committees were set to meet. The Hamas leadership, apparently in Jordan, gave orders to activate its rebuilt terror machinery. The objective: Foil the attempt to start negotiations.
For these reasons, the lack of security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians is a minor problem. The real problem is the existence of the Hamas terror infrastructure, a more sophisticated one than in the past. Hamas activists operate in the Palestinian Authority's territories, in effect operate under its protection. So long as this infrastructure exists, negotiations cannot be held.
After Israel's redeployment out of the territories, Israeli is barely able to destroy this infrastructure. The GSS and IDF can operate on the fringes and help Dahalan and Rajub to locate its sources and foreign contacts. Only Arafat can rip up this infrastructure by its roots. Therefore, the political cabinet yesterday conditioned the continued meetings of the committees on real action on the part of Arafat. If he will not soon do this, and thoroughly, Netanyahu will be left with only one choice: To suspend negotiations until the security conditions for their resumption exist. This is also apparently the approach of the American government.