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http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/11-4-19102-0-55-35.html The Herald April 11, 2002 -Mr Blair said they could help reassure the Israelis that terrorists arrested by the Palestinian Authority were being kept locked up and were not being released through a "revolving door" to commit more atrocities. Blair: We'll help Arafat keep killers off streets CAMERON SIMPSON BRITISH observers could be sent to the Middle East to ensure that Yasser Arafat keeps wanted terrorists behind bars in an effort to stanch the bloodshed, Tony Blair said yesterday. The prime minister acknowledged that feelings in the region were running so high the Israelis and Palestinians would need the help of the international community if they were to resume talks. "No matter how strong the feelings, no matter how deep the hatreds, now is the time to pull back, to stop, to realise that the current strategy is going nowhere, that the time for violence is over, and the time to get a peace process going is overdue," Mr Blair told the Commons. His intervention came hours after an Islamic militant blew himself up on a bus near the Israeli port city of Haifa, killing himself and eight passengers, including the teenage niece of Israel's chief representative at the United Nations. In Bethlehem, an Armenian priest was shot and seriously wounded in the besieged Church of the Nativity, built on the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born. Saeb Erekat, senior Palestinian negotiator, said at least 500 Palestinians had been killed since Israel launched a military offensive in the West Bank on March 29. The latest suicide attack - a day after a "10-year-old bomber" lured 13 soldiers to their deaths - prompted Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, to deliver a blunt message: Israel will not pull back until Palestinian militias are crushed. However, his defence ministry later announced that Israeli troops were leaving the small West Bank villages of Yatta, Qabatya, and Samua. The withdrawals come less than a day before Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, is to visit Israel. Yatta and Samua are near the southern city of Hebron, and Qabatya is near Jenin in the north, where some of the fiercest fighting has been reported. Mr Blair said both sides had to accept they could not win through violence and that a return to the peace process was overdue. He put forward the offer of British observers to monitor terrorist detainees held by the Palestinian Authority as part of international efforts to restore security and rebuild confidence to enable negotiations to start. Their mission would be distinct from any international military force that was sent to monitor any ceasefire that could be agreed between the two sides. Diplomatic sources suggested the numbers would be in the "tens" and could be drawn from civilians with a security background such as retired military or police officers. Mr Blair said they could help reassure the Israelis that terrorists arrested by the Palestinian Authority were being kept locked up and were not being released through a "revolving door" to commit more atrocities. Officials acknowledged that, with much of the Palestinian security apparatus having been destroyed by the Israeli defence force - with prisons reduced to rubble, there were considerable practical difficulties with the plan. Mr Blair also said the time was not yet right for military action against Iraq, but warned that the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction had to be confronted. Some 146 MPs, most from the Labour party and several of them former ministers, have now signed a Commons early day motion expressing "deep unease" at the prospect of the government supporting US military action against Iraq. As the Middle East stand-off continued, the US, EU, and UN piled pressure on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian cities. Ari Fleischer, White House spokesman, said the Haifa suicide attack "reinforces the need for all parties to step back, for Israel to withdraw, and for the Palestinians and the Arabs to stop the violence, stop the killing". His comments echoed a joint statement issued after Colin Powell met Kofi Annan, the UN secretary-general, in Madrid. They also urged Mr Arafat to do everything possible to halt attacks against Israeli civilians. Mr Powell, dispatched on a Middle East mission to end more than 18 months of bloodshed soon after Mr Bush demanded an end to the Israeli offensive, is expected in Israel later today. On the eve of his arrival, Mr Sharon appeared to set himself on a collision course with Washington, Israel's chief ally and provider of �2bn in annual aid. "I hope our great friend the US understands that this is a war of survival for us . . . it's our right to defend our citizens and there should be no pressure put on us not to do that," he said. "Our wonderful soldiers have to be able to continue this struggle. We are doing exactly what Mr Bush said should be done against terror. Once we do that, once we accomplish that, we have no intention, we will not stay in any zones." In Washington, Benjamin Netanyahu, a former Israeli prime minister, warned that Palestinian suicide bombers might target the US if Israel did not expel Yasser Arafat from Palestinian areas. "If we do not shut down the terror factories that Arafat is hosting - those terror factories that are producing human bombs - it is only a matter of time before suicide bombers will terrorise your cities here in America," he told members of the Senate. "If not destroyed, this madness will strike in your buses, in your supermarkets, in your pizza parlours, in your cafes." While praising Mr Bush's commitment to Israel, Mr Netanyahu took issue with the president's demand that Israel withdraw quickly from Palestinian areas. "There can never be a political solution for terror," he told senators. "You have to defeat terrorism militarily in order to have a political process." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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