Israelis Back Down on Deporting Kin

Israeli officials, faced with an international outcry and a definitive ruling by the attorney general, acknowledged Sunday they couldn't legally deport relatives of suicide bombers unless they were directly linked to attacks.

Also Sunday, a Palestinian official said Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told the Palestinians that Israeli troops could withdraw from two West Bank cities - Bethlehem and Hebron - in the coming days. Israeli officials denied the claim.

On Friday, Israeli officials had said they were considering deportation to the Gaza Strip for 21 people arrested in West Bank raids who were relatives of suspects in attacks last week that killed 12 Israeli residents.

The threat generated international condemnation and cries of collective punishment from the Palestinians.

Amnesty International and Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups said the proposal was a violation of international law. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said "self-defense cannot justify measures that amount to collective punishments."

Even Israel's closet ally, the United States, warned against deporting anyone based solely on their family relations.

On Sunday, Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein's office issued a statement, saying deportation could be considered only for people "directly involved" in attacks.

Ranaan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said it was clear "from the beginning that it (deportation) was problematic."

"If you can't do the move in a legal manner, then you can't do it," he said. He said there was no legal possibility for deportation if there was no proof of clear involvement in a terror act.

Still, the 21 family members arrested Friday were being investigated to see if any fit Rubinstein's criteria for deportation. "If any were directly involved, who meet the criteria, you can consider deporting them," Gissin said.

The relatives had petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to block any deportation. However, they withdrew the petition Sunday after the court said it could not rule unless the government ordered a deportation.

The proposal for more blanket and punitive deportations had generated some support in Israel.

"The expulsions of terrorists and their families is one of the most severe punishments we can give - and it will deter the terrorists significantly," Maj. Gen. Yom-Tov Samia, former head of the army's southern command, told the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

Deportation is sensitive for Palestinians, whose close-knit family relations dictate much of their everyday lives. Deportation to Gaza from West Bank villages where their extended families live would remove much of their social, emotional and economic support systems.

The debate over deportation came as Peres met late Saturday with Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat and discussed conditions for easing restrictions on Palestinians and for Israel to end its monthlong occupation of West Bank towns and cities, both sides said.

Israeli forces occupied seven of the eight major West Bank towns and cities after back-to-back suicide bombings in Jerusalem on June 18-20 killed 26 Israelis.

A Palestinian official said Peres had told Erekat the army would leave Bethlehem and Hebron within days. Army Radio issued a similar report. But officials in Peres' office said they knew nothing of the proposal, and Gissin indicated a withdrawal wouldn't happen soon.

Peres didn't mention a timeframe or cities to be vacated in an interview Sunday with Israel Radio. The army, he said, has "no interest in staying in those places where the Palestinians can prove that they can take control."

The Palestinians have demanded Israel get out, arguing they can't assume security control while Israeli forces are in place, enforcing curfews and hunting for militants.

Gissin said that so far, the Palestinians hadn't shown they were ready to take over.

"We have in the past acted on the basis of promises, and what we got was terror attacks," he said. "Do you really believe we will do that again?"

In an attack Sunday morning, a bomb exploded on a passenger train traveling south of Tel Aviv, injuring the engineer. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but police said they believed Palestinian militants were behind it.

Late Sunday, Palestinians said that at a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian activists in recent weeks, Ami Ayalon, a popular former chief of the Israeli Shin Bet security service, presented a draft of new proposals on some of the thorniest issues dividing the two sides: the future of Palestinian refugees and the status of Islamic and Jewish holy places in Jerusalem.

Israeli media has reported in recent days that Ayalon seeks 1 million signatures for his proposal as part of a grassroots effort to break the stalemate in peace talks.

Palestinian officials and academics are studying the proposals, but they are unlikely to meet approval, a Palestinian source said.

A draft of the proposal obtained by The Associated Press speaks of a future Palestinian state absorbing those refugees who wish to live there, with international aid for those willing to resettle elsewhere. It makes no mention of the right of Palestinians to return to homes in Israel that they lost in 1948, long a key Palestinian demand.

It also proposes Palestinian "guardianship" of the Al Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem, revered by Muslims, while Israel would be guardian of the adjacent Western Wall, sacred to Jews. Neither side would have sovereignty, the draft says.

(China Daily July 22, 2002)