August 29, 2001
U.S. Asks Israel to Pull Troops From Town in West Bank
By JANE PERLEZ
WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 — The Bush administration urged Israel today to withdraw its forces from Beit Jala, in the West Bank, but the Israeli Defense Ministry announced that its troops would stay indefinitely.
"The Israelis need to understand that incursions like this will not solve the security problems, they only make matters worse," said Richard L. Boucher, the State Department spokesman. "As a consequence, we believe the Israelis should withdraw their forces from this area."
The spokesman also called on the Palestinians to stop shootings and attacks from Beit Jala on Gilo, on the southern edge of Jerusalem. The Palestinian attacks, including the firing of mortars, were cited by the Israeli government as the justification for the incursion by its tanks and bulldozers early Tuesday morning.
The attacks from Beit Jala against Gilo have been going on for months but they intensified Monday night when, according to Israeli reports, more than two dozen Israeli apartments and a synagogue were hit. The situation is especially sensitive because Gilo is built on territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war, and the Palestinians want it back.
There was some concern at the State Department that the Israeli intention to stay "until further notice" marked an intensification of Israeli efforts to press the Palestinian leader, Yasir Arafat.
Until now, when Israeli forces have rolled into a Palestinian area after bombings and attacks, they have withdrawn after several hours.
If the Israeli forces stayed in Beit Jala, an occupation could ensue, not unlike the seizure earlier this month of the symbolically important Orient House in Jerusalem, that would presumably require arduous negotiations to reverse.
There was little expectation among Arab diplomats in the Middle East that Washington's call for withdrawal would have much impact on Israel. It came, one diplomat noted, from the State Department spokesman and carried less weight than if it had come from a senior member of the administration.
The administration also sought today to ensure that Syria did not exploit the tensions that have boiled over since Israel killed Mustafa Zibri, known as Abu Ali Mustafa, the leader of a Palestinian faction.
Members of Mr. Zibri's organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said in Damascus that the killing of Mr. Zibri could lead to attacks on Israeli and American interests.
Mr. Boucher called on Syria to "exercise restraint over groups that it allows on Syrian territory," apparently a reference to guerrillas supported by Syria. He also said the administration had asked Syria to ensure that the Israeli-Lebanon border remained calm.
Israeli officials were reported to have asked the administration to ask the Syrian leader, Bashir al-Assad, to keep the reins on Hezbollah, which operates in Lebanon with the backing of Syria. One of the administration's fears is that if the violence continues to widen in the West Bank, Palestinian guerrillas who are members of groups like Hezbollah will open a second front with cross-border attacks from southern Lebanon.
The administration is also assessing the results of meetings with a delegation of Israeli officials who came here for a "security dialogue."
Dan Ayalon, the senior foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, told a gathering of Middle East experts at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy that the Bush administration had voiced little disagreement with how Israel was acting. Mr. Ayalon also praised the administration for its posture, saying the Israeli government did not believe that Washington should be more heavily involved.
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company
