International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, Nov. 12, 2002

Israeli officials have responded angrily to European Union sponsored talks in Cairo between the main Palestinian faction Fatah and its chief rival, the Islamic terror group Hamas, aimed at bridging their gaps on how to proceed with the armed intifada.

Reports from Cairo indicate that the EU and Egypt were seeking to persuade Hamas to halt suicide attacks inside Israel and participate in elections scheduled for January. Hamas officials are claiming that during the talks, Fatah has never actually asked them to halt suicide attacks inside Israel, but instead has focused on calming tensions between the two Palestinian factions, after infighting broke out in Gaza recently.

The talks, under the auspices of Alistair Crook -- a special regional envoy of EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana -- are expected to end on Tuesday with a common statement on "Zionist aggression", while falling short of agreement on the "two-state solution" to the conflict sought by Fatah.

But sources in Israel’s Foreign Ministry have criticized the Europeans, who are aligning with Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction in arguing that suicide attacks within Israel should be stopped for a while mainly because they harm the cause of Palestinian statehood. Israeli officials claim that the EU intervention amounts to implicit approval of attacks against Israeli soldiers and settlers in the territories, treating them as legitimate targets of armed Palestinian elements.

In a bid to counter the impression that the EU condones certain Palestinian acts of terrorism, EU special Middle East envoy Miguel Moratinos attended the funeral on Tuesday for the woman and her two children shot dead in a family bedroom during a Fatah terrorist infiltration at Kibbutz Metzer late Sunday.

Israeli officials also are pointing to a British newspaper report on Sunday indicating that EU Commissioner Chris Patten had refused to authorize an investigation into the alleged terrorist abuses of some 10 million euros of EU aid given to the PA each month, commenting that he needed an investigation, "like a hole in the head."

The Israelis are becoming increasingly frustrated at the ongoing apparent double standards in the international terror war. On Monday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair warned the British people to be vigilant against terrorism, while arguing that without a lasting Middle East peace, groups such as al-Qaida would continue to have justification for their atrocities.

"Above all we need to understand the passion and anger the state of the Middle East peace process arouses," he told dignitaries and business leaders at the annual Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London.

The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday printed a potent indictment of the perceived EU distinction between "good terror" and "bad terror," underlining the extent to which Israeli public opinion is losing patience with EU peacemaking efforts while showing that "it is essentially willing to endorse terrorism against Israelis." The editorial compared the Cairo talks to "a discussion within al-Qaida over whether to attack Americans at home or abroad," with EU logic implying that one was more acceptable than the other.