More accurately, they have dealt with both political and security issues, but have consistently run aground over the substance of Israel's security demands and its insistence that these be met before political negotiations resume. The Palestinians, who have have come to view the Sharon-Peres government as a storm to be weathered, have strenuously rejected the Israeli demands. In their view, Sharon's security agenda is but a mask for his political one, and to accept the first is to guarantee the implementation of the second. The Palestinians have concluded that the next several weeks will bring unprecedented Israeli pressure on them, designed to compel their acquiescence to Sharon's agenda. The Palestinians believe they are facing a defining moment in an ongoing test of wills to see who snaps first.
Preliminary reports indicate that it failed to produce substantial results.
The Palestinians dismissed Israeli claims that they were responding to gunfire from the convoy, pointing instead to Sharon's vociferous pre-election demands for Dahlan's assassination. All rights reserved.