November 11, 2001	Sunday	Shaba’an 24, 1422

AL QUDS, Nov 10: Israeli troops snatched 12 Palestinians in an overnight raid in the West Bank, maintaining the tension in the occupied territories as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat prepared to address the United Nations General Assembly.

Arafat was heading for New York Saturday to highlight the “dangerous situation resulting from the Israeli military escalation despite international efforts ... to rescue the peace process,” top adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina said.

But Jordan’s King Abdullah II, interviewed by the Times of London, offered a glimmer of hope, saying he was seeking an Arab promise to offer a collective guarantee of Israel’s security in return for setting up a Palestinian state.

In the meantime, Israel was taking no chances with its security. The army arrested 12 Palestinian militants “suspected of involvement in terrorist activities” in an raid into autonomous Palestinian territory, a military statement said Saturday.

They also destroyed the house of a gunman who killed three Israelis in Afula, northern Israel, on October 4, it said.

An Israeli unit entered the village of Araqa, west of Jenin, in pursuit of Palestinians, linked to Arafat’s Fatah movement, who shot dead an Israeli woman on Friday.

The army said the troops later withdrew into Israeli-held territory.

As further evidence of Israeli nervousness, Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer was recently ordered to leave his house for several days after a threat on his life, the country’s Itim news service reported.

The defence ministry refused to comment, but the security of cabinet ministers has been stepped up since tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi was assassinated last month.

Palestinian security sources also reported an Israeli incursion into a self-rule area in the southern Gaza Strip, which Israel promptly denied.

While the tit-for-tat violence continued, King Abdullah was eying prospects for peace.

He told The Times a deal on Israeli security was already being discussed by the main international players, including the United States, Russia, the European Union, the United Nations, Egypt and Jordan.

He said a long-term strategy of this nature would underpin a new initiative to be launched soon by US President George W. Bush’s administration.

The king’s remarks were “exploratory” according to the daily, which said he is understood to have canvassed the idea in the Gulf states and several north African states.

Abdullah Friday rounded off an official three-day state visit to Britain that included talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair.

“To this day we don’t know what the end game is”, the king told The Times.

No one yet knew what would follow the Mitchell proposals aimed at an immediate end to violence, but it was a “given” that Israel would not disappear, Abdullah said.

On Bush, Abdullah said: “He is ready to move. But, the way he describes it, he plays the presidential card, so you can’t play that card if there’s a chance of failure.

“What happens if that fails? You are going to have to wait for years ... it must be 99 percent clear, and I agree with him.”

The king said advancing the peace process had taken on added urgency because of the September 11 terrorist assault on the United States.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak echoed Abdullah’s sentiment in a speech to his parliament Saturday.

“I sincerely advise Israel to reconsider its (anti-Palestinian) policy and practices, which cannot be beneficial to anyone, especially the people of Israel, who aspire, like all people, to a safe and stable life,” he said.

The two leaders’ conciliatory language was in contrast with angry comments by Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal over Bush’s refusal to meet Arafat at the UN.

In response, US Secretary of State Colin Powell disputed the minister’s assertion that Bush’s decision “makes a sane man go mad.”

“I was with the foreign minister last night, and I can assure you he is quite sane and has not gone mad,” Powell said.

In an interview with the New York Times published Friday ahead of a meeting with Bush and Powell, Prince Saud said Riyadh was “angrily frustrated” with Washington’s position.—AFP