Britain, Israel in anti-terror talks after London bombings
AFP
Date: 07-26-05
LONDON (AFP) - The British and Israeli foreign ministers held talks on how to deal with international terrorism in the wake of the London bombings which left 56 people dead earlier this month.
British police have been criticised for allegedly copying Israeli shoot-to-kill policies in the hunt for suspected suicide bombers after an innocent Brazilian man was killed by anti-terrorism police here last week.
Visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom refused to comment about the specific nature of the cooperation between Israeli and British security forces, saying only that both countries stood united in the "war on terror".
"Our discussions today of course focused on the question of terrorism and how well it can be combated," Shalom told a press conference alongside British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
"We are sharing our assessments as well as our experience with all the world, not especially the United Kingdom. Of course we will be very happy to help anybody who asks for this help," he said.
Both ministers stressed that international Islamic terrorism had to be met head-on and could not be justified by the US-led war in Iraq or Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.
"Don't believe for a moment that if we were to withdraw from Iraq or if we were never there that this terrorism would stop. It's really poor journalism for people to run around looking for excuses when those excuses just are not there," Straw said.
Their comments echoed British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who earlier Tuesday said Britain and the world should "not give an inch" to terrorists' demands or attempt to find excuses for their attacks.
Shalom said the time had come for the European Union, of which Britain currently holds the rotating presidency, to add Palestinian militant group Hamas to its blacklist of terrorist organisations.
He repeated Israel's calls for international, and particularly EU, pressure to be brought to bear on Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas to crack down on groups like Hamas during Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip.
Israel is on track to begin evacuating all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and another four isolated communities in the northern West Bank from the mid-August.
Shalom also lashed out at London Mayor Ken Livingstone for suggesting that suicide bombings against Israeli civilians were somehow justified.
"In Israel we were shocked to hear those statements that were made by the mayor of London, and I do not want to repeat what some Israelis have said about him and about maybe his mental condition," Shalom said.
"There is no way to understand what the mayor of London has said. To distinguish between the blood of innocent Israeli civilians and the blood of others is unacceptable."
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. |
|