The Israeli cabinet was in an uproar today over reports that Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat had agreed to meet at the Palestinian Authority's Dahaniya International Airport in Gaza. Several government ministers urged Sharon to call off the meeting, comparing it to the prospect of meeting with Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in Tuesday's terror attacks in Washington and New York. "He is a close ally of Saddam Hussein and bin Laden," Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau (Likud) asserted.

Israel's Channel Two television reported that Sharon instructed as many as seven right-of-center ministers to publicly issue condemnations of the meeting. The Prime Minister's office denied the charge.

Arafat continued to impose preconditions on the meeting, demanding that a European Union representative be present at his planned meeting with Peres. Ha'aretz reports that Arafat insists on having either EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana or EU special Mideast envoy Miguel Moratinos at the meeting to record any agreements that might be reached. Otherwise, a diplomatic source told Ha'aretz, Arafat fears that Sharon might later deny any agreements that are reached.

According to the source, Ha'aretz reported that Peres first wants to meet privately with Arafat, but tentatively agreed to have Solana join the meeting later, while he and Arafat are drafting a joint communiqué. Previous reports from Palestinian sources indicate that the joint communiqué has already been drafted. Peres said he has a "full mandate" from Sharon to agree on both a cease-fire and the resumption of diplomatic negotiations.

Sharon spokesman initially indicated that the Prime Minister was willing to let Peres meet with Arafat, but they suggested that this might be the Palestinian's last chance. "He really has a choice between being a bin Laden or being a partner for peace," government spokesman Ra'anan Gissin quoted Sharon as telling U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during a phone call Wednesday. "You," he told Powell, "have bin Laden who is the threat and we have Arafat who is constantly, constantly using terror. He adopted a strategy of terror, he has a coalition of terror."

Ha'aretz reported that Israel sent warnings to the Palestinian Authority in the wake of the terror attack in the United States. There was no ultimatum.

American officials, media, finger Palestinian connections
Iowa Senator Charles Grassley (R) said that he was told in a briefing by terrorism specialists that some of the hijackers had connections to bin Laden, and that others were connected to militant organizations such as Arafat's Fatah movement and the Lebanese guerilla group Hizbullah.

Earlier, NBC reported that one of the suspected hijack pilots, Mohammed Atta, had been involved in bus attacks in Israel several years ago. He reportedly was on a watch list for members of Al Qaida, bin Laden's group.

A senior Administration official confirmed in a briefing Thursday afternoon that there were "a number of organizations involved."

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