It is still not clear when exactly Yasser Arafat will be allowed to leave his compound in Ramallah in which he has been holed up for almost a month. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today that Arafat can leave \"whenever he wants to.\"
The Cabinet decided yesterday that Arafat would be free to leave Ramallah - but not the Palestinian Authority- for the first time in nearly five months, and that six heavily wanted Palestinian terrorists would remain in PA prison, but under the guard of British and American jailers. The six terrorists in question are the four murderers of Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi and two men who organized the Karin-A weapons ship. The decision was the result of heavy pressure by U.S. President George Bush on Prime Minister Sharon, who in turn pressured his Ministers. Bush asked Sharon to impress upon the Cabinet how important it was to approve the plan, and Sharon in fact made a personal and emotional plea to this effect, saying that it was particularly hard for him, as a close friend of Rehavam Ze\'evi, to give up on the idea of putting the murderers on trial in Israel. Several ministers were persuaded to change their minds, although several Likud ministers, as well as Ministers Sharansky, Eitam, and Rabbi Yitzchak and David Levy, voted against.
MK Benny Elon (National Union), who spoke with Arutz-7 this morning, said that the above-mentioned pressure is only the tip of the iceberg:
\"This was a long process, one that began with the transfer of the murderers from Shechem to Ramallah with the knowledge of the Israeli security forces, in order that some kind of arrangement could be reached. But it\'s more than just the fact that the IDF could have apprehended them and did not do so; Bush, Powell, the Europeans, and Peres were all involved in a process that involved the humiliation of the State of Israel and its sovereignty... I have no doubt that within the coming days, more information will come out. I have no desire to hurt my sources. But I can now say that this whole process of a mock trial, and then the latest developments, were all \"cooked up\" by Powell, the Europeans, and Peres; this is now well-known. Sharon, too, was aware of it... I blamed a senior figure for \"undermining\" Sharon [and informing Arafat of a complex military plan to attack the Mukata and capture the terrorists, thus leading to its cancellation], but now I don\'t know which of the two was worse...\"
A supposed \"perk\" for Israel is Bush\'s invitation to Sharon to visit the U.S. within the coming week. This will be Sharon\'s fifth visit to Washington since becoming Prime Minister almost 14 months ago. Some fear that Sharon will be asked to make still more concessions during his visit. Yasser Arafat has not visited U.S. President George Bush even once.
The Cabinet decided yesterday that Arafat would be free to leave Ramallah - but not the Palestinian Authority- for the first time in nearly five months, and that six heavily wanted Palestinian terrorists would remain in PA prison, but under the guard of British and American jailers. The six terrorists in question are the four murderers of Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi and two men who organized the Karin-A weapons ship. The decision was the result of heavy pressure by U.S. President George Bush on Prime Minister Sharon, who in turn pressured his Ministers. Bush asked Sharon to impress upon the Cabinet how important it was to approve the plan, and Sharon in fact made a personal and emotional plea to this effect, saying that it was particularly hard for him, as a close friend of Rehavam Ze\'evi, to give up on the idea of putting the murderers on trial in Israel. Several ministers were persuaded to change their minds, although several Likud ministers, as well as Ministers Sharansky, Eitam, and Rabbi Yitzchak and David Levy, voted against.
MK Benny Elon (National Union), who spoke with Arutz-7 this morning, said that the above-mentioned pressure is only the tip of the iceberg:
\"This was a long process, one that began with the transfer of the murderers from Shechem to Ramallah with the knowledge of the Israeli security forces, in order that some kind of arrangement could be reached. But it\'s more than just the fact that the IDF could have apprehended them and did not do so; Bush, Powell, the Europeans, and Peres were all involved in a process that involved the humiliation of the State of Israel and its sovereignty... I have no doubt that within the coming days, more information will come out. I have no desire to hurt my sources. But I can now say that this whole process of a mock trial, and then the latest developments, were all \"cooked up\" by Powell, the Europeans, and Peres; this is now well-known. Sharon, too, was aware of it... I blamed a senior figure for \"undermining\" Sharon [and informing Arafat of a complex military plan to attack the Mukata and capture the terrorists, thus leading to its cancellation], but now I don\'t know which of the two was worse...\"
A supposed \"perk\" for Israel is Bush\'s invitation to Sharon to visit the U.S. within the coming week. This will be Sharon\'s fifth visit to Washington since becoming Prime Minister almost 14 months ago. Some fear that Sharon will be asked to make still more concessions during his visit. Yasser Arafat has not visited U.S. President George Bush even once.