Mideast - AFP
World warns Israel against targeting Arafat
Date: Sat, Apr 24, 2004
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites)'s threats against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) were condemned around the world ahead of a key Likud party vote on Sharon's plan to quit the Gaza Strip (news - web sites).
In the West Bank the Israeli army shot three members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a armed group linked to Arafat's Fatah (news - web sites) movement, during a series of operations which have already cost 26 Palestinian lives in four days.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) stressed that President George W. Bush (news - web sites) was opposed to any attack against Arafat.
"The president made it clear that he would oppose any such attempts against Mr. Arafat, and the president firmly believes that he has a commitment from Prime Minister Sharon that no such attempt will be made," Powell said.
Israeli public radio for its part reported that US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) had called Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weisglass, with a similar message.
"I promised President George W. Bush three years ago not to attack Arafat, but I am no longer bound by that promise, and (Arafat) no longer has immunity," Sharon said Friday.
Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei called on the international community Saturday to protect Arafat.
He urged the UN Security Council and "countries concerned with the security of the Middle East" to pressure Sharon to back down from his threat.
"Any such act of folly can only take the region into the abyss and bring about the definitive collapse of peace efforts," he said.
Arafat promised a "million martyrs for Jerusalem" during a rally in the West Bank town of Ramallah, and pleaded for support from world leaders.
"Mr Arafat called this evening on Egyptian, Jordanian, Arab and European leaders to warn them of the consequences of the escalation of the violence in the Palestinian territories and the threats by Sharon against him," said Arafat's chief advisor, Nabil Abu Rudeina.
In Israel, Sharon's threat appeared politically calculated to molify hardliners within the ruling Likud party ahead of the internal vote on the prime minister's plan to remove Jewish settlements from Gaza.
Likud's 200,000 members are to vote on May 2. Latest opinion polls show that supporters of Sharon's initiative have fallen sharply even though they remain in the majority.
Agriculture Minister and hardline Likud member Israel Katz welcomed the tough talk against the Palestinian leader.
"It is not necessary to hesitate to put this threat into action in the event of a new Palestinian attack" against Israeli targets, he said.
A senior Israeli official said it was not strictly accurate to speak of a "death threat" against the Palestinian leader.
"It's up to Arafat to wear the consequences of his support for terrorism," said the official.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie welcomed the US warning to Israel not to harm Arafat, saying his killing would not solve the problems of the Middle East.
"Murdering people, whether by assassination or attack, is not going to solve the problem," she told a press conference in Oman.
Russia also said it was deeply concerned over threats.
"Moscow has with deep concern learned of the April 23 declaration by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that he is no longer bound by his earlier promises not to physically harm Yasser Arafat," said Alexander Yakovenko, foreign ministry spokesman.
Meanwhile three Al-Aqsa militants were shot dead by Israeli troops in Jenin as violence rocked the northern West Bank, hospital and security sources said.
The three men were killed in their car by Israeli special forces troops disguised as Palestinians, security sources said, but an Israeli spokeswoman said they had fired from a building on troops coming to arrest them.
SOURCE
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.