European Union governments granted final approval Tuesday to a deal to send 13 Palestinian militants to six EU nations, while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon faced a meltdown of his ponderous coalition after a revolt by ultra-religious MPs triggered a political showdown over planned budget cuts.
The formal deal reached by EU ambassadors in Brussels means the transport of the men to their respective host countries can begin. Spain and Italy will each take three of the militants, Greece and Ireland two, and Portugal and Belgium one.
In a statement the EU said one militant would remain in Cyprus until an EU country can be found to take him in. It added that the 12 would stay in their host nations “on a temporary basis and exclusively on humanitarian grounds.”
“Each of the member states … shall provide the Palestinians it receives with a national permit to enter its territory and stay for a period of up to 12 months,” the statement added, implying that they would be authorized to travel beyond the host country’s borders. EU officials did not say what would happen to the 12 men after that period.
A Spanish military aircraft was due to arrive in Cyprus late Tuesday to pick up the 12, Spanish officials said. The Palestinians were expected to leave the island on Wednesday.
The men have been held under guard at a Cyprus hotel for the past 10 days since their negotiated release from an Israeli siege of Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, where they had been trapped for weeks with more than 200 other Palestinians and religious officials.
Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique said Tuesday that the end of the siege had produced an opportunity that must not be wasted. “We believe a window of opportunity is opening up. It is very important to use this opportunity,” he said on the sidelines of a conference on the Greek island of Mykonos.
Pique, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, also warned that the situation in the Middle East was still “very, very fragile” and urged Israel to accept the Arab Peace Initiative. “After 35 years, the Arab world has accepted full normalization of relations with Israel … This has to be reciprocated by Israel,” he said.
The Saudi-authored plan proposes that the Arab world offer Israel full recognition and security in exchange for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Arab land held since 1967.
Pique insisted that American involvement was essential.
“There can be no solution without the US,” he argued.
“The United States has abandoned its terrible position that first comes security and then we start to discuss the political issues. Now they accept both in parallel,” he said. “This is very important. Now we are happy with the cooperation.”
Sharon, meanwhile, prepared for a showdown with his critics. The Israeli premier fired four ministers of the powerful religious party Shas late Monday after they and their backbench colleagues voted against austerity measures the government wanted to push through to tackle the economic crisis caused by the conflict with the Palestinians.
The sackings, along with the resignation of a fifth Shas minister in solidarity, left Sharon with just 65 seats in the 120-deputy assembly and facing the possibility of early elections as he struggles to plot a course through the intifada.
Israeli television said Sharon had given orders that no talks were to be opened with Shas or other parties that could step in to shore up his majority.
But Israel’s Army Radio said Sharon had been in indirect contact with Shas’ spiritual leader in a bid to resolve the coalition crisis. Contact between Sharon and Ovadia Yossef was made through a businessman close to both of them who took a message from Sharon saying he would be willing to withdraw his dismissal of four Shas ministers if the party agreed to approve the budget move on Wednesday.
Sources at Shas, quoted by the radio, said they believed Sharon was conducting secret negotiations with the party leadership, but indicated that Shas was unlikely to change its stance on the issue.
“There is no reason to be tightfisted,” Shas parliamentary leader Yair Peretz told Army Radio. “If they don’t make changes to the (budget) we will vote against (Finance Minister) Sylvan Shalom’s plan.”
Shas’ political leader, Interior Minister Eli Yishai, said earlier on public radio that he would continue talks to find a way out of the impasse but held out little hope.
“We have another few hours of talks to see what will happen. There is no doubt in my mind that the (sacking) decision was a wrong one unless the prime minister wants to go to elections,” he said.
While power politics were being played out in Israel, muscle flexing of a different kind was taking place in the Occupied Territories.
Israeli troops allegedly in pursuit of a suicide bomber blockaded the West Bank village of Beit Furik following two bombings over a 24-hour period and the arrest of a Palestinian woman Israel said was planning to carry out such an attack.
Palestinian security officials said three jeeps entered the village and soldiers enforced a curfew, but made no arrests and left after several hours.
Israeli forces also demolished three Palestinian homes in an Arab section of Jerusalem, claiming they were built illegally in an area designated for a school, Israeli officials said.
Israeli police in riot gear surrounded the structures as bulldozers carried out the demolitions, while a small group of residents protested. The demolitions took place in the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina, a part of Jerusalem captured by Israel in 1967 and later annexed in a move not recognized by the international community.
Twelve Palestinians lived in one of the houses, 24 in another, and the third was empty, Palestinians and the Jerusalem municipality said.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Tova Ellinson said the houses had been built without permits on land set aside for a school. She would not say when the school was going to be built. The demolition orders had been issued to the homeowners in October 1999, she said.
However, homeowner Jamal Sandouka said he had not known his house was going to be demolished.
“There was no previous warning, they just came and demolished the house,” he said.
Sandouka said he had settled a dispute with the municipality a few years ago, and had always paid local taxes: “So why they are they demolishing my house?”
Israel has destroyed at least eight Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem this year, a policy that has drawn international criticism. Palestinians say it is almost impossible to obtain building permits in Jerusalem and that demolitions are an Israeli policy to reduce the Palestinian population in the city.
The Israeli government claims that it is simply enforcing the building code. ­ Agencies

Copyright © The Daily Star