Israel beefs up security measures

JERUSALEM, Aug 3: Israel today went on high alert for fear of more suicide bombings as a top Palestinian security official ruled out any im...

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JERUSALEM, Aug 3: Israel today went on high alert for fear of more suicide bombings as a top Palestinian security official ruled out any immediate security coordination with the Jewish state.

Mohammed Dahlan, the Palestinian head of preventive security in the Gaza strip, made a resumption of coordination conditional on Israeli implementation of peace agreements. “We will not resume security coordination as long as Israel does not want to implement the (peace) agreements,” Dahlan told a news conference in Gaza.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s communications chief, David Bar-Illan, said there was “no other issue than security at this point”. “Until the security issue is addressed there can be no substantive progress in negotiations,” Bar-Illan said.

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A leaflet issued in the name of Hamas and claiming responsibility for a bloody suicide bombing in Jerusalem last week included an ultimatum to Israel to free all Palestinian prisoners by 9 pm (6 pm GMT) today. Israeli police said the ultimatum in the leaflet, whose authenticity has not been established, was one factor in Saturday’s decision to increase the number of police patrols in Israel’s towns and cities.

Meanwhile, Yasser Arafat has accused Israel of having virtually declared a war upon the Palestinians by toughening security measures and urged for international intervention to prevent escalation of violence.

Arafat, speaking to reporters after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said, “US President, Bill Clinton’s intervention is needed at this phase more than ever before” to save the West Asian peace process.

Protesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s move to seal off the West Bank and Gaza Strip immediately after the double suicide bombing which killed 13 people and injured more than 150 others in a Jerusalem market on Wednesday, Arafat said, “Mass-punitive measures have exceeded all logical limits.”

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Neighbouring Arab nations Iran and Syria have reacted sharply against Israel. They have asked Turkey to review its military and security ties with Israel and urged the Islamic countries to slap comprehensive sanctions against Tel Aviv.

In a joint statement issued at the end of the visit of Syrian President Hafez Al Assad to Iran the first in seven years the two countries refused to approve Israel’s participation in the Middle-East and North African economic summit to be held in Doha in November. The statement said Israel’s participation was a prelude to widen its influence in Arab and Islamic countries.