Arafat calls for halt to all violence in Middle East

Israeli official skeptical, calls for action, not words

Yasser Arafat

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Going to the airways Sunday, Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat called Israel's attacks on Palestinian positions "an unjust war" and urged Palestinians against carrying out reprisals against Israelis.

In a live televised speech, Arafat asked Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to curtail military actions against the Palestinians. He also demanded that suicide bombings against Israelis stop.

"I today reiterate (a call for) the complete and immediate cessation of all military activities," Arafat said. "I renew the call to completely halt any activities, especially suicide attacks which we have condemned and always condemned."

Arafat, under pressure from the United States, Israel and Europe to crack down on terrorists in territory under Palestinian control, made the speech two weeks after a weekend of terror attacks on civilians in which 25 Israelis were killed in Jerusalem and Haifa during the first weekend in December.

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The Palestinian leader's speech was met with skepticism by Ra'anan Gissin, spokesman for Sharon.

"I must say, I have to be a little skeptical, because Arafat made these statements before," Gissin said. "He made it on the 27th of September when he accepted a cease-fire. We buried 67 people since then and 500 more were wounded."

"I want to judge Arafat by his deeds not by his words," Gissin added.

Last week, the Israeli Cabinet cut off all contact with Arafat, calling him "irrelevant" after an attack on an Israeli bus in the West Bank that resulted in 10 deaths and 30 injuries.

After the speech, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer stressed that President Bush would "wait and see" whether Arafat acts.

"Chairman Arafat spoke constructive words but what is important is that they be followed up by concrete actions," Fleischer said. "That's what will be measured."

Arafat's speech came as the Palestinian Authority continued to shut down offices and institutions of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad in Gaza and the West Bank. Arafat has not, however, outlawed the groups.

Arafat also said the Palestinian Authority would hold steadfast to its goals for a Palestinian state that has Jerusalem as its capital.

"We frankly want a Palestinian state ... in the full sense of the word ... with Jerusalem being its capital, alongside Israel," he said.

Arafat also said he has imposed a state of emergency in Palestinian-occupied territory.

"We have started a series of measures and we will continue with these measures, including outlawing organizations that carry out terror activities," Arafat said. "We have also launched the initiative to cease-fire and this has to be respected by everybody. (If) the Israelis do not honor it and they do not want a cease-fire, it does not matter; we have to respect what we have committed ourselves to."

Israeli Cabinet minister Ephraim Sneh, however, called on Arafat to take further action.

"If those who mastermind and those who prepare the terrorist attacks are arrested ... that would be a real sign that he means business," Sneh said on CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer."

The longtime Palestinian leader, who has participated in more than three decades of sporadic peace talks involving Israel and a Palestinian homeland, said further Palestinian violence gives Israel justification for its attacks.

"They are plotting a mounting military aggression and a siege of our cities and refugee camps and occupation of our areas, using these attacks against Israeli civilians as a pretext, events we have condemned and we still condemn them," he said.

In comments made before Arafat's address, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Palestinian leader's success in decreasing violence in upcoming days will be a challenge.

"So far he hasn't done enough to respond to this challenge," Powell said on "Fox News Sunday."

"And we have been saying to him directly, you've got to do something about this or else we're not going to go anywhere," Powell said.

The United States has called on its envoy to the Middle East, Anthony Zinni, to return to Washington.

Palestinians close Hamas, Islamic Jihad offices

Israeli troops shot and killed an Hamas member during a raid in the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday, Palestinian security sources said. The Israeli army had no immediate comment.

The closures of Hamas and Islamic Jihad offices started Saturday night and continued Sunday. Twenty-nine closures have been made in the West Bank and 13 in Gaza.

It is part of a promise the Palestinians gave U.S. officials to work to halt acts of terror in Israel by cracking down on the groups, which are believed to be responsible for many attacks on Israelis.

The closures follow orders Wednesday from Arafat to shut down the organizations, after an attack that day on the Israeli bus in the West Bank.

An Israeli helicopter, meanwhile, fired missiles early Sunday on a Palestinian police station in Jabaliya, a refugee camp in Gaza. There has been no word on casualties.

Palestinians say such Israeli military actions only hamper their efforts to dismantle Hamas and Islamic Jihad, because they provoke public outrage and reactionary attacks.

Arab foreign ministers are expected to meet next week in Cairo to discuss the escalating unrest in the region.

Palestinians called for the emergency meeting of the Arab League, which will be held December 20, said an Arab League official Saturday, on condition of anonymity.

The call came after the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution early Saturday morning that would have established an international monitoring team to protect Palestinians and halt the escalating violence.