Days before Israel’s military assault on Jericho prison it warned Britain and America that it would seize Palestinians held there under an international agreement for killing an Israeli Cabinet minister if the two countries withdrew their monitors.
Dov Weisglass, the most influential of the Israeli prime minister’s advisers, told Britain and the US last week that it would be better for international supervision at the prison to continue. But he said that if they carried through a threat to pull out British and American monitors because of ”security concerns” then Israel would act to bring the wanted men to justice.
The last of 11 foreigners kidnapped by Palestinian groups in response to Israel’s destruction of the prison with tanks, bulldozers and missiles were released on Wednesday as relative calm returned to the occupied territories.
But there remained anger and suspicion among ordinary Palestinians and their leaders that Britain colluded in the Israeli attack to seize Ahmed Saadat, accused of masterminding the 2001 assassination of Israel’s tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi in a Jerusalem hotel, and five other Palestinians held in the Jericho jail under international supervision.
British sources said on Wednesday the monitors were withdrawn after a ”specific and credible threat” earlier this year against their lives. The sources said it was the most serious of concerns that included fears of roadside bombs, kidnappings and being caught up in a riot inside the jail.
But the Palestinian leadership accused Britain of using security as an excuse to pull out of the agreement to monitor the jail because it does not want to deal with a Hamas government, and of cooperating with Israel in its attack on the prison.
Touring the wreckage of the jail on Wednesday, the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, called the raid an ”unforgivable crime” and suggested Britain and the US had coordinated their withdrawal so Israel could send in tanks as soon as the monitors left.
”I’m giving the facts. They [the monitors] left at 9.20am and the Israelis came in at 9.30am. How can we explain that?” he asked.
Israel says that on Friday the British and Americans told Israel that the monitors would be leaving but did not specify a date. Israel immediately put its forces on alert, ready for an assault on the jail.
Over the weekend the British consul general, John Jenkins, contacted Abbas’s office four times to press him to act on a letter sent a week ago by the US and Britain demanding their security concerns be addressed.
Jenkins was unable to talk to Abbas directly because the Palestinian leader was in Gaza negotiating with Hamas over a new government and then travelling to Jordan. But British sources say the Palestinian president’s office assured Jenkins that Abbas understood the gravity of the situation.
The monitors were pulled out on Tuesday morning and Israel began its assault on the prison minutes later.
Blair defended the timing and manner of the withdrawal of the monitors in the Commons on Wednesday. ”The idea that this was precipitous or uncalled for or un-thought through is simply wrong,” he said.
”For the past three months we have been warning the Palestinian Authority that the security of these monitors was at risk, that the procedures at this particular detention centre were not adequate and proper.”
But Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian Cabinet minister, said the British pull-out was not about security but to avoid the embarrassment of Hamas carrying through a pledge to release Saadat and his men.
”We are going to have a Hamas government and I don’t think Britain felt able to continue these arrangements. But Britain didn’t say that. They tried to accuse the Palestinians of not fulfilling their obligations on security,” he said.
The timing of the raid was also questioned in Israel by opponents of the acting prime minister, Ehud Olmert, ahead of a general election in a fortnight.
The strongest challenge to his Kadima party comes from the rightwing Likud party. Israeli commentators speculated that after Olmert pledged to remove Jewish settlers from some parts of the West Bank he needed to appear to be tough on the Palestinians. They also said the acting prime minister could not risk Saadat walking free just before the election.
On Wednesday Olmert said the captured Palestinians would be put on trial for Zeevi’s killing. ”They will be indicted according to Israeli law and they will be punished as they deserve,” he said.
Timeline
- March 8
US/UK write to Palestinian leader saying they will withdraw monitors unless concerns are addressed.
- March 9
Israel says it wants monitors to stay but if withdrawn it will capture men wanted for killing Israeli minister. UK and US tell Israel monitors will withdraw, but do not specify time.
- Weekend
British consul calls Palestinian leader four times seeking commitment to act on the UK and US warning.
- Tuesday
UK monitors pull out of Jericho jail without telling Palestinians. Minutes later Israeli troops move in. – Guardian Unlimited Â