U.S. special envoy Anthony Zinni is due to return to Israel on Thursday and will reportedly call on Israel and the Palestinians to immediately implement the Tenet and Mitchell plans. In response to an American request to ease conditions of the Palestinian population before Zinni's arrival, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon instructed the IDF to initiate steps to lift closure restrictions and remove roadblocks in the territories.

The easing of Palestinian conditions came following a meeting Sharon held Tuesday night with Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz. At the meeting, in anticipation of Zinni's visit, Sharon reiterated the need for seven days of complete quiet before implementation of the Tenet plan can begin.

Sharon's call for the week of quiet was in direct opposition

"We are certainly not in a period of quiet" - Cabinet Secretary Gideon Sa'ar

to the position of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres. Peres said that if there were another two or three days of "relative quiet," the two sides could proceed with the implementation of the Tenet plan's blueprint for a cease-fire.

"'Tenet' does not call for seven days of quiet, but is to be implemented immediately, and that depends on us alone," Peres told Army Radio on Tuesday. Peres told Channel One television that "it is a shame to waste time" with the Tenet plan.

Cabinet Secretary Gideon Sa'ar dismissed Peres's claim of "relative quiet" in the territories. "It's true that the volume of terror has declined," he told Army Radio. "We are now at an average of 10-12 incidents per day, while we've seen past periods of 20-30 incidents per day. But we are certainly not in a period of quiet."

Even so, a source in the Prime Minister's Office told Maariv that the "Tenet plan deals primarily with military steps of the two sides, and there is no problem to implement it gradually. Every time that we remove a closure, that is an implementation of part of the plan."

The disagreement between Peres and Sharon over the quiet period appeared secondary to a more serious difference of opinion between the two over how Israel should relate to Arafat and the Palestinian Authority. Peres told Sharon this week that Israel should help Arafat and not bring about his failure, Maariv reported. Peres was scheduled to meet Thursday with Foreign Ministry officials and request that Israeli international public relations efforts refrain from attacking Arafat's public image.

Sharon meanwhile insisted that Israel continue efforts to isolate and pressure Arafat, as the Palestinians were not doing enough to fight terror. Sharon nixed the proposal that President Moshe Katsav address the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah, suggesting that such a move was a transparent propaganda ploy that would lend legitimacy to Arafat's leadership.

Zinni's new mission will only last a few days
Zinni is scheduled to stay in the area for only a few days said Paul Patin, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. Zinni's earlier mission, which ended December 15 after three weeks marked by a steady increase in Palestinian violence and Israeli military responses, was originally designated "open-ended."

Zinni is expected to "encourage the Palestinians to keep cracking down on terrorism, the terror infrastructure, and the ability to perpetuate terror," Patin said. Zinni is expected to request, in parallel, that the IDF withdraw from positions in Area A, remove closures and blockades and ease movement restrictions on the Palestinian population. Additionally, Zinni will reportedly call for an end to Israel's "targeted killings" of suspected terrorists.

Israeli officials are expected to make clear to Zinni that such steps and gestures would be made as long as they did not endanger Israeli security, Yediot Aharonot reported. It would be emphasized to Zinni, though, that if security forces detected a "ticking bomb" terrorist, they would not hesitate to take action to stop him.

In addition to Zinni's meetings with Sharon and Arafat, Israeli security and intelligence officers will reportedly brief him on Arafat's "two-sided strategy" in making minimal efforts to fight terror. Palestinian security forces have arrested low-level Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists while Israeli security forces continue arresting senior "wanted" terrorists. "We are the ones arresting the big fish," said IDF Spokesman Lt. Col. Olivier Rafowicz.

One official in the Prime Minister's Office said that in the sixteen days since Arafat's televised speech calling for a cease-fire, there have been 158 terror acts perpetrated by the Palestinians. "If it wasn't for the Israeli actions, a number of suicide bombings would have taken place," the official told ynet.

Palestinians look forward to Tenet and Mitchell timetable
"We hope that (Zinni) will propose a timeline and mechanism for implementing the Mitchell and Tenet plans,'' Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat told Reuters.

"The Americans know how calm the situation is since Arafat gave his speech calling for an end to the violence," said Arafat advisor Bassam Abu Sharif. "That's why they agreed to send Zinni to implement the timetable and mechanism for the Tenet and Mitchell package."

The Palestinians charged that Israel was attempting to sabotage Zinni's visit by continuing arrests, abductions and incursions. According to a statement released by the Palestinian Authority, in the last three weeks there had been quiet in the territories, and therefore Israel was obligated to begin implementing the Mitchell Report plan.

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