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Israeli President Urges Intensive Efforts on Ending Terrorism
Israeli President Moshe Katsav has said Israel must concentrate all its efforts on ending terrorism that is "running rampant," Israel Radio reported on Tuesday.
If negotiations are being held by the Israelis and Palestinians, they must focus solely on ending terrorism, the president was quoted as saying.
Katsav made the remark in response to caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak's criticism of comments by Attorney-general Elyakim Rubinstein who questioned Barak's moral authority to conduct negotiations with the Palestinians prior to the February 6 prime ministerial election.
The president said that the concerns expressed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of General Staff Shaul Mofaz, Chief of General Security Service (or Shin Bet) Avi Ditcher, as well as Rubinstein about the negotiations in light of the security situation cannot be ignored.
"The attorney-general is doing his job and his actions should not be criticized," Katsav said.
The president also warned the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) that if escalation of the situation causes harm to Israel, the damage inflicted on the Palestinians will be even greater.
Israeli security officials have warned that there is a possibility of further escalation in the situation while Barak has instructed the military to act with a free hand in operations against the Palestinians.
There have been a number of fatal attacks on both sides in recent weeks. Following the killing of two Jewish settlers by Palestinian gunmen and a senior leader of PNA Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement on Sunday, 34 Israelis were injured in powerful car-bomb explosions in Israeli coastal city of Netanya on Monday.
Two more Israelis were wounded Tuesday night in a shooting attack by Palestinians near Jerusalem.
More than 300 people, mostly Palestinians, were killed in the more than three months of Israeli-Palestinian conflicts.
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