AL QUDS, Jan 5: US peace envoy Anthony Zinni met Palestinian officials on Saturday, emerging still optimistic about truce prospects despite heightened tensions over Israel’s seizure of a shipload of smuggled arms.
Police said a blast at an Al Quds petrol station, which wounded two people, appeared to have been a work accident.
Zinni, suggesting progress in American efforts to end 15 months of bloodshed, said the sides would resume trilateral security talks on Sunday, broken off in December after a wave of violence wrecked an earlier push for a ceasefire.
Zinni remained publicly upbeat, insisting after his talks in the West Bank that his mission could bear fruit.
“I am hopeful, I am encouraged,” he told reporters after meeting Palestinian cabinet member Saeb Erekat in Jericho.
“I think that it’s going to take cooperation from both sides and a deep commitment to get the meaningful ceasefire we need so we can get this process in order,” he said.
Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Korei — better known as Abu Ala — said earlier that Zinni intended to return 12 days after his planned departure on Monday.
US embassy officials in Israel could not confirm this, although they stressed that Zinni’s latest four-day trip was conceived as part of an extended shuttle diplomacy process.
But disputes over the arms shipment, which Israel insisted was bound for the Palestinians, overshadowed the top-level talks and underscored the troubles ahead.
The Palestinian Authority denied any link to the ship, said by Israel to contain 50 tons of mostly Iranian-supplied weapons for use by militants against Israelis. It said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was trying to sabotage Zinni’s trip.
Israeli army chief Shaul Mofaz said the seized vessel, the Karine-A, was owned by the Palestinian Authority and manned by Palestinian naval police, demonstrating “clear and undeniable” links to Arafat’s administration.
ISRAEL LESS UPBEAT: While Israel welcomed the plans to restart trilateral talks, it cautioned against expecting too much from them.
“These meetings have usually ended in pointed discussions and recriminations,” government spokesman Avi Pazner said. “We do not see any serious effort to implement a full ceasefire.”
Although violence has dropped markedly in the three weeks since Palestinian President Yasser Arafat called for an end to attacks on Israelis, Israel is insisting on a week of total calm before it will consider implementing US peacemaking plans.
It quickly said the arms haul, due to be unveiled on Sunday, underlined its charge that Arafat has not done enough to crack down on groups behind a wave of bloody suicide bombings and other attacks — a charge Palestinian officials vehemently deny.
Palestinian security sources said they had arrested six Islamic Jihad men in the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday, including three on Israel’s most-wanted list.
Israeli officials said the arms ship, impounded on Thursday in international waters in the Red Sea, raised concerns further. On board were Katyusha rockets, mines, assault rifles, anti-tank missiles, ammunition and explosives, army chief Mofaz said.
A member of Hizbollah, which helped drive Israeli troops from south Lebanon in 2000, was also aboard, Israeli cabinet secretary Gideon Saar said.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected Israel’s allegations of a Tehran connection to the ship or military links to Arafat.
Tensions were likely to escalate on Sunday when Israel plans to prevent Arafat from attending Orthodox Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem. It imposed a travel ban on him last month until he arrested those blamed for killing an Israeli cabinet minister.—Reuters