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The Government of Israel views with grave severity the terrorist attacks last evening. |
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| 13/12/2001 |
At the Security Cabinet meeting early this morning (Thursday), 13.12.2001:
1. The Government of Israel views with grave severity the terrorist attacks last evening.
2. The Government of Israel holds Chairman Arafat directly responsible for these attacks, and in light of this, resolves the following:
A. Chairman Arafat has made himself irrelevant as far as Israel is concerned, and therefore, no contacts will be maintained with him.
B. The Security Cabinet approves and authorizes the military operations as presented by Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz at the Cabinet meeting.
C. The Israel Defense Forces will rapidly deploy for military operations in the vicinity of the cities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip in order to carry out arrests, and to confiscate weapons. The Defense Minister will present, at the earliest possible date, the adjustment of the method of operations against the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations in light of the escalation of their attacks.
D. The Government of Israel holds the PA and its leader directly responsible for the miserable living conditions of the Palestinian people. The Government of Israel will continue to do everything possible to help the civil population.
Additional Information
 The three terrorists belong to a Hamas cell operating out of Nablus. Originating from the village of Tel in Samaria, two of the terrorists were on the list of 33 terrorists to be arrested submitted by US Envoy General Anthony Zinni to the PA a number of days ago.
The PA has stopped making any real arrests.
The Security Cabinet decision does not include any directive to attack Arafat personally.
The attack took place within the window of opportunity, and in the timeframe, that General Zinni requested Israel to provide the PA in order for them to fight terrorism and fulfill their obligations.
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