Yasser Arafat announced over the weekend that he had arrested four Hamas mortar-launching cells, but Israeli security sources are not convinced. They are backed up by none other than Mahmoud Zahar, the spokesman for Hamas in Gaza, who told IMRA\'s Aaron Lerner this morning, \"[As of] this moment, we [have] asked every region and we [have] found that nobody was arrested.\"
Israeli sources say that the shelling attacks are organized and supplied by none other than the Palestinian Authority itself, and that Arafat\'s announcements are meant only as publicity stunts to gain him an American invitation to Washington. Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi said today, \"Arafat is not a partner for peace, period. We have absolutely nothing to talk about with him, except to offer him to go back to Tunisia.\" Regarding the hasty and controversial IDF withdrawal from Gaza last week, Ze\'evi said, \"I can testify that it was not a decision forced by American pressure. The plan all along was to leave within 24 hours, and it was made even before the Americans woke up that day…\"
Israeli sources say that the shelling attacks are organized and supplied by none other than the Palestinian Authority itself, and that Arafat\'s announcements are meant only as publicity stunts to gain him an American invitation to Washington. Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze\'evi said today, \"Arafat is not a partner for peace, period. We have absolutely nothing to talk about with him, except to offer him to go back to Tunisia.\" Regarding the hasty and controversial IDF withdrawal from Gaza last week, Ze\'evi said, \"I can testify that it was not a decision forced by American pressure. The plan all along was to leave within 24 hours, and it was made even before the Americans woke up that day…\"