US President Bush also implied last night that Israel would begin implementing the Tenet Agreement upon the arrival of Gen. Zinni in Israel tonight: \"We had a lot of phone conversations with people in the Middle East which led us to believe that there is a chance to create -- to get into Tenet, or at least create the conditions to get into Tenet.\" MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union) confirmed this on Arutz-7 this morning. \"Prime Minister Sharon told me,\" Hendel said, \"that he will begin implementing the Tenet Agreement when Gen. Zinni arrives in Israel today. This means abandoning the military option and going the way of diplomacy: removing checkpoints and removing encirclements from around PA areas [which were put in place to prevent free movement of terrorists]... We did this last time Zinni was here, and we ended up with a giant wave of terrorist attacks that cost us [35 deaths within a week].\"
Zinni will meet tonight with Prime Minister Sharon, and is expected to demand that Israel both withdraw its forces from PA-controlled cities and stop all military offensives against terrorism. Arutz-7\'s Ariel Kahane reports that the American pressure apparently stems from the fear that the Arab world will not support the impending American attack on Iraq while the Israeli-Palestinian fighting continues. US Vice President Cheney\'s current to the Middle East, as well as Zinni\'s arrival in Israel, are designed to bring an end to Israel\'s anti-terrorism actions and thus placate the Arab leaders. \"We are endangering the lives of our citizens by opening these checkpoints and stopping the actions in the PA-controlled cities,\" MK Hendel said, \"while not demanding even the slightest commitment from the other side... This is a gamble in human life in which we must not take part.\"
In an almost anti-climactic decision, Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer in fact announced this afternoon that the IDF forces would \"re-deploy\" around Ramallah, and that the anti-terrorism offensive in the city had ended.
Zinni will meet tonight with Prime Minister Sharon, and is expected to demand that Israel both withdraw its forces from PA-controlled cities and stop all military offensives against terrorism. Arutz-7\'s Ariel Kahane reports that the American pressure apparently stems from the fear that the Arab world will not support the impending American attack on Iraq while the Israeli-Palestinian fighting continues. US Vice President Cheney\'s current to the Middle East, as well as Zinni\'s arrival in Israel, are designed to bring an end to Israel\'s anti-terrorism actions and thus placate the Arab leaders. \"We are endangering the lives of our citizens by opening these checkpoints and stopping the actions in the PA-controlled cities,\" MK Hendel said, \"while not demanding even the slightest commitment from the other side... This is a gamble in human life in which we must not take part.\"
In an almost anti-climactic decision, Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer in fact announced this afternoon that the IDF forces would \"re-deploy\" around Ramallah, and that the anti-terrorism offensive in the city had ended.