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Barak Holds Palestinians Responsible for Violence
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Monday held the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) responsible for the escalating violence between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians.
"We see the Palestinian Authority as responsible for failing to restrain the police from firing on Israeli soldiers, and therefore unfortunately we know that all the Palestinian casualties were caused as a result of the positions and the behavior of the Authority," Barak told the Israel Radio.
"The PNA should assume its responsibility: end the violence and restore calm," he added.
The United States, the European Union and the international media have blamed Israel's opposition right-wing Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon for igniting the violence by visiting an Islamic holy site on the Temple Mount last Thursday.
But Barak was pointedly reluctant to lay all the blames on Sharon and noted that Sharon's visit was "part of the picture," but there were "deeper causes" behind the flare-up.
Barak assured the public that Israel "will have the upper hand" and "will win" in this latest episode in the decades-long conflict with the Palestinians.
Barak confirmed that he has ordered the officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and police to use any measures necessary to restore order in the Palestinian self-rule areas and inside Israel.
During the last four days, 28 Palestinians were killed and hundreds of others were wounded in the bloody clashes with IDF soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian side said.
On Sunday, Israeli Arabs in the north of the country also took to the streets to voice their support for the Palestinians and at least one Israeli Arab was killed during the clashes with police.
Israeli police will get "much, much tougher" with the Israeli Arabs inside the country on Monday if the violence continues.
This, according to Israel Radio, was the message transmitted to Israeli Arab politicians by Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, at a meeting early Monday morning.
Overnight, violence appeared to abate both inside Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, although sporadic incidents, including shootings, were reported.
But the IDF and the security service predicted a new upsurge of violence following funerals for the latest Palestinian victims of the clashes.
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