The Inner Cabinet met for several hours Wednesday to consider the deteriorating situation in the administered territories.
No new policy decisions were announced, but tougher military measures are expected, including more and longer curfews in refugee camps and other trouble spots to keep potential demonstrators off the streets.
The Inner Cabinet, which consists of 5 Labor and 5 Likud ministers, is the government’s top policymaking body. An official statement issued after the meeting said the defense minister, the Israel Defense Force chief of staff and the deputy chief of staff gave reports to the ministers.
Despite sharp differences between Labor and Likud, it appeared that key ministers of the two parties share the view that the immediate need is to restore order in the territories. There also seemed to be a growing consensus that momentum must be restored to the movement for a negotiated political settlement in the region.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres sent a message to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt earlier in the week, pledging Israel to continue to strive to advance the peace process while making efforts to calm the situation in the territories.
EGYPTIAN ENVOY SUMMONED
Peres reportedly gave his message to the Egyptian ambassador to Israel, Mohammad Bassiouny, whom he summoned to Jerusalem for a meeting.
Deputy Premier David Levy of Likud also stressed the need for political momentum. But, speaking in a radio interview Wednesday, he reiterated Likud’s insistence on direct negotiations with Jordan and the party’s opposition to an international peace conference.
Laborite Ezer Weizman, a minister without portfolio, proposed in an article published Tuesday in Maariv that Egypt should host a peace conference.
Meanwhile, a leading Palestinian moderate in the West Bank, Mayor Elias Freij of Bethlehem, proposed that Israel annex the territories and grant the Palestinian population full citizenship rights.
In an interview Wednesday with Yediot Achronot, Freij said these rights should include “military service and the right to vote and to be elected to the Knesset.
“We are sick and tired of being the mistress of Israel,” the Palestinian said. “The time has come to either marry us or divorce us.”
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