U.S. and Israeli officials praised Yasser Arafat on Sunday for his strikes against Palestinian extremists, with the reminder that the PLO chief's political survival hinges on his continued efforts against terrorism.
"We think we are getting 100 percent cooperation, but we are going to be monitoring it very closely," Secretary of State Warren Christopher said after Arafat's security forces arrested several leaders of the Muslim militant group Hamas on Friday.Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres said that in the past 24 hours Arafat "has shown already a real readiness to arrest the group which is in charge" of the bombing attacks that have killed 62 people, including the four suicide bombers, over the past two weeks. "He has arrested three out of the six most important persons."
Peres' opponent in May elections, Likud Party head Benjamin Netanyahu, insisted that Arafat was still only offering token cooperation. "He has caught one fish or two fish but he has not dried the pond," he said on CNN's "Late Edition With Frank Sesno."
The four bombings have disrupted Mideast peace talks and brought into question Arafat's will and power to root out the extremists who want to undermine the peace process.
Peres expressed qualified confidence that Arafat could do the job, saying it was "not on my agenda" to send Israeli troops back into the West Bank and Gaza.
"The PLO, which was just a few years ago a terrorist organization, is now fighting terrorism." Peres said on ABC's "This Week With David Brinkley." Arafat understands that"if he wants to keep his authority he can't permit another armed authority to be at the same time at the same place."
"If the peace process is defeated then he is in big trouble and he knows it," said White House National Security Adviser Anthony Lake, also on ABC.
President Clinton travels to Egypt on Wednesday for a rare summit among Israeli and Arab leaders seeking to present a unified front against terrorism.
"I think it's going to be probably the largest outpouring of Arab leaders at a conference with Israel in history. This couldn't have happened several years ago," Christopher said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Christopher expressed displeasure that Syria's President Hafez Assad was the one major player in the Mideast peace talks to stay away from the conference. "We think all of those who are involved in the peace process should be there," Christopher said. Assad's absence "will be noticed."
The United States also objects to Syria's allowing "rejectionist" groups to maintain offices in Damascus, he said.
A senior official in the Palestinian authority, Nabil Shaath, also urged Congress to release to the Palestinians about $13 million in aid it has withheld following the bombings.
Coming at a time when Israel has closed the borders of the West Bank and Gaza and deprived thousands of Palestinians of their jobs, the aid cutoff is increasing economic hardships and "really helping to set the ground for further recruitment of suicide bombers," he said on ABC.
Lake agreed that it was "self-defeating to deny them that aid. Hamas preys on the dissatisfaction of the Palestinian people."