Israeli army ordered not to initiate attacks

Israeli army told not to attack

The Mitchell Committee report

From Mike Hanna
CNN Jerusalem Bureau Chief

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The Israeli Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday it had banned the army from initiating attacks against Palestinians, just hours after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had called for a cease-fire in the troubled region.

But Sharon maintained his previous stand that "the first thing that has to happen is an end to the terror."

U.S. officials were hopeful that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would respond positively to Sharon's pronouncement, but did not expect a response before Wednesday.

Sharon, speaking a day after release of a report by the Mitchell Committee on violence in the Middle East, did not announce any major policy changes.

"This evening I called for a general cease-fire in the region," he said at a news conference. " I state here and repeat once again if the Palestinians accept the proposal for an immediate cease-fire, we shall immediately stop the fire."

Hours later, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer ordered the Israel Defense Forces "to cease fire and to follow the regulations of opening fire which are operative in life-threatening situations only."

RESOURCES Full text of the Mitchell Committee's report (from the Meridian International Center website) Requires Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™ Click here to download the reader.     CNN ACCESS Peres: 'Our enemies are not the Palestinians' Erakat: Mitchell report can provide a way out Mitchell: No such thing 'as conflict that can't be ended'    VIDEO In an exclusive interview with CNN, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell talks about the report (May 21) Part 1 |  Part 2 (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

A Sharon aide described the order as a "first step" designed to "give all parties the best shot" toward observing a cease-fire. But even after the military order was issued, Israel Radio was reporting fresh exchanges of gunfire in Gaza.

A senior U.S. official involved in the diplomatic effort said the United States' "anticipation from conversations" is that Arafat will also accept the call for an immediate cease-fire. The official cautioned, however, " We have not received the hard signal, so I would not go beyond anticipate."

The same official said the call for the cease-fire in the Mitchell Report and the subsequent conversations that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell had with Sharon and Arafat "gives both parties in our view a safe place, a stepping stone, that as long as they can take it together doesn't expose either side to too much internal pressure. This is an opportunity we need both parties to seize."

In his news conference, Sharon blamed the last eight months of violence -- a period marked by more than 500 deaths -- on the Palestinian Authority.

Shortly afterward, Saeb Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, blamed Sharon for the violence, saying "he started it all" by making a provocative trip to the Temple Mount -- a sacred spot in east Jerusalem known as the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims -- last September.

Erakat called on the United States to "convene a summit for all the participants in the Mitchell Report."

The Mitchell Committee report calls for an immediate cease-fire, a cooling-off period, and a framework and timetable for the Israelis and Palestinians to return to the negotiating table

The report also calls for the Israelis to freeze all settlement activity, including what the Sharon government has called the "natural growth" of the settlements.

Asked if he would freeze settlement activity, Sharon said that Powell had emphasized "there is no link between the end of violence and the question of the settlements. That issue has to be discussed later on between the parties."

That was not the answer Palestinian leaders wanted to hear.

"Palestinian leadership expresses its regret for Mr. Sharon's rejection of the recommendations included in the Mitchell findings," said a written statement provided by the Palestinian Media Center.

"The Palestinian leadership calls for an immediate convening of the parties to the Sharm el-Sheikh summit in addition to members of the Mitchell Commission in order to set and formulate a mechanism for implementing all recommendations included in the Mitchell findings that must include a cessation to all settlement activities without any exception," the statement said.

Sharon said he had told Powell on Monday that "Israel regards the Mitchell Report as a positive basis that could allow the two parties to break through the violence and return to negotiations.

"I call upon our neighbors to stop the violence immediately and return to the negotiating table. I call upon the Arab states ... particularly Syria and Lebanon with whom we share a border, to opt for the path of peace."

Sharon's remarks came as envoys shuttled between Gaza City and Tel Aviv on Tuesday, hoping to find a way for Israelis and Palestinians to call a cease-fire.

As those diplomatic efforts went forward, Palestinian officials said Israeli troops had staged incursions into five Palestinian-controlled areas. Israel said it had conducted only one.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk and U.S. Consul-General Ron Schlicher met with Sharon do "discuss a framework" for implementing the Mitchell Report.

European Union envoy Javier Solana, one of the authors of the report, met in Gaza with Arafat.

And U.N. envoy Terje Larsen, who also talked with Arafat, said he saw a "convergence" forming around the Mitchell Report that might lead to a cease-fire.

But Larsen warned there is still a disconnect between the diplomatic initiatives now going on and the what is happening on the ground

In Washington, Natan Sharansky, the Israeli minister for housing and construction, met with U.S. Undersecretary of State Richard Armitage

After the meeting, Sharansky said no immediate policy changes are on the horizon.

"No prize should be paid to terror and that's why at this stage to discuss any kind of compromise agreements about trust building measures will be pre-emptive," he said. " First of all, we have to stop violence unconditionally."

Sharansky also echoed Sharon when he said, "We are not building any new settlements, but we are dealing only with the needs of existing ones."

The conflict claimed another victim Tuesday, a Palestinian police officer who had been critically injured during Israeli air strikes last Friday

Palestinian officials said there were no clashes in the latest incursions, but they complained that Israel was violating agreements signed in 1993.

Palestinians said in two of the most significant incursions, Israeli troops and tanks went less than 400 meters into Palestinian areas near the Karni Industrial Zone and into an area near Rafah near the Egyptian border. Sources also reported brief incursions at three other locations.

The Israel military said it had conducted only one incursion, sending troops in near Karni crossing to remove shrubs and undergrowth so that bombs could not be placed near a border fence.

It called the incident a "pinpoint" incursion and said the troops left as soon as the mission was accomplished.