As Hamas vowed to carry out more suicide bombings in defiance of this week's world summit against terrorism, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met Saturday with senior CIA officials to discuss how to combat the Islamic extremists.
Arafat spoke for about an hour with the CIA delegation headed by Deputy Director George J. Tenet at an office near the Erez checkpoint, on the border between Israel and the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip.Israeli television reported that Arafat had asked the CIA for technical and logistics support in fighting Hamas, which has claimed responsibility for four suicide bombings in the past two weeks that have taken 62 lives and threatened the survival of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.
The CIA offered Arafat information on Hamas' network of support throughout the Middle East, Israel's Channel 2 reported.
Hamas' military wing said Saturday it has decided to resume suicide bombings in Israel, calling them "martyrdom attacks against the Zionists."
In a leaflet circulated in the Gaza Strip, Hamas said a crackdown by Arafat would "destroy completely any understanding or future agreement" between Hamas and the Palestinian leadership. And it condemned Wed- nesday's "summit of the peacemakers," to be hosted by President Clinton and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, as "an international conspiracy against the struggle of the people and an attempt to save the Zionists from defeat."
Among those who have agreed to attend the one-day anti-terrorism conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik are Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Jordan's King Hussein, Arafat and the leaders of many leading Western nations. But the success of the conference will be measured in the number of other Arab countries that agree to stand up with them to protest terrorism against Israel.
U.S. officials have said that Tunisia, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states may take part. Israeli television reported that Morocco's King Hassan also will attend.
Mubarak said Saturday he is trying to persuade Syrian President Hafez Assad to participate but that "he is still thinking it over."
Syria, still officially at war with Israel, has not condemned the Hamas suicide bombings. Several Hamas leaders live in the Syrian capital of Damascus and in the Lebanese capital of Beirut. Syria controls Lebanon and allows Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas there to continue their fight against Israeli soldiers occupying southern Lebanon.
In his effort to draw more Arab countries to Sharm el Sheik, Mubarak tried to broaden the focus of the summit from the topic of terrorism against Israel.
"Terrorism is not the issue here," Mubarak said. "We're talking about an international conference to support the peace process, and based on this we must meet or the peace process will collapse."
In the past week, Arafat has rounded up most of Hamas' political leaders along with about 600 suspected Hamas activists detained since the wave of bombings began Feb. 25.
The latest, Ibrahim Yazouri, one of seven Hamas founders and a pharmacist who heads the Islamic Community Center in Gaza, was arrested at his home Friday night, his family confirmed Saturday.
Palestinian security officials said they also arrested Ahmed Bahar, another co-founder of Hamas and a professor of religion at the Islamic University of Gaza, but relatives denied it.
The only leading member of Hamas' political organization still out of jail in Gaza is Sayed Abu Musameh. The arrests, along with raids on mosques, Islamic clubs and welfare institutions that make up the Hamas social infrastructure, mark a turnaround for Arafat.
Before the recent bombings, Arafat was negotiating with Hamas political leaders, trying to get them to form a legal political party while trying to marginalize the military wing into eventual extinction.
But he has come under tremendous pressure from the Israelis and Americans to crack down on all of Hamas' military and civilian infrastructure or risk an end to the peace process.
Israel also has threatened to move into Palestinian-ruled areas and make arrests if Arafat fails to do so.
The arrests, along with Israel's closure of Palestinian territories, have provoked anger among Palestinians who say they are under occupation, just as they were before the accords were signed.
The closure costs the Palestinian economy up to $6 million daily in lost wages and trade, Arafat said. Members of the Palestinian Legislative Council say they fear a backlash.