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Israel Halts Incursion Under US Pressure: Report
The Israeli defense establishment postponed a planned incursion into the Palestinian village of Beit Jalla near the West Bank city of Bethlehem Tuesday night under U.S. pressure, Israel Radio quoted diplomatic sources as reporting Wednesday.
The forces massed up around midnight Tuesday in the Israeli- controlled areas next to Bethlehem, as well as the nearby Palestinian area of Beit Jalla and Beit Sakhour after shooting by Palestinian gunmen from Beit Jalla on the opposite Jewish neighborhood of Gilo on the southern outskirt of Jerusalem Tuesday morning.
The army did not, however, enter areas under the Palestinian control.
But Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer denied on Wednesday that pressure from the United States or Foreign Minister Shimon Peres had led to the halt of the military operation.
He said the incursion was put off because Israel received information that Palestinian National Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was trying to stop the gunfire on Gilo, which was built beyond the Green Line, or the 1967 border between Israel and the Palestinian territories, and considered by the Palestinians as an Israeli settlement.
Israel Radio said that the military action was halted because of pressure from the United States which has criticized an earlier Israeli incursion into the West Bank town of Jenin as " provocative."
Peres also reportedly phoned Ben Eliezer, warning that such a move would cause serious diplomatic damage to Israel.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed that Palestinians would have to pay a heavy price for "terror," saying that the shooting on Gilo should end.
Israeli soldiers, tanks and armored vehicles, which were called up for the military action late Tuesday night, were still positioned Wednesday in the surrounding areas of Bethlehem.
The Palestinians have condemned Israeli incursion into Jenin, calling on the U.N. Security Council to convene a meeting to discuss the issue.
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