October 23, 2001
PM Sharon To Cabinet: Recent Idf Actions In Accordance With Security Cabinet Decisions; Pa Must Meet Three Conditions Before We Can Return To Negotiations According To Mitchell Outline (Communicated by the Cabinet Secretariat)

At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday), October 21, 2001:

1. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon noted that everything which the security establishment and the IDF have done in recent days was in accordance with decisions of the security Cabinet and added that, therefore, any reports to the contrary are baseless.

Prime Minister Sharon said that as long as terrorism continues without arrests, we will make the arrests; if there are no counter-terrorist actions, we will act to prevent terrorist actions.

Prime Minister Sharon declared that the government wishes to return to the diplomatic negotiations according to the outline of the Mitchell plan. However, this will be possible only after:

A. The complete cessation of terrorism and incitement; B. Terrorist organizations are outlawed and disbanded, and their members are arrested; C. Those who assassinated Tourism Minister Rechavam Ze'evy, as well as those who dispatched the assassins, are extradited.

Prime Minister Sharon asserted that Israel has no intention of remaining in the places that the IDF has entered. The amount of time that the IDF will remain in these areas depends, in large measure, on Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and the counter- terrorist actions he will take.

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer made it clear that the goal of the IDF actions in recent days is to prevent terrorism that originates in Area A from being perpetrated inside Israel. The IDF has no intention of toppling the Palestinian Authority; its purpose is to defend the residents of Israel.

IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz briefed the Cabinet on the IDF actions in the cities under Palestinian Authority control and noted that this was the most wide-ranging IDF ground action against the PA to date. Chief-of-Staff Mofaz referred to the action's effects on the PA and insisted that Israel would uphold its right to self-defense.