Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met three top Palestinian officials this week, his first face-to-face talks with the Palestinian leadership since his election a year ago. Israeli commentators speculated the meeting with two architects of the landmark 1993 Oslo peace deal and an economic adviser to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was aimed at opening a dialogue on ending 16 months of bloodshed including a recent wave of Palestinian suicide attacks. A spokesman for Sharon declined to comment on talks with parliamentary speaker Ahmed Korei, Arafat's unofficial deputy Mahmoud Abbas and economic adviser Mohammed Rashid. Israel Radio said Sharon asked them to convey a message to Arafat to end terrorism and made clear Israeli pressure on him would continue until he reined in militants behind attacks on Israelis.
That would be the first reading of the Riot Act. Now Yasser has to calculate how much he can get away with before he's allowed to become a martyr for his cause. Capri is probably looking better and better all the time. |