Arafat
Obstacle to Peace, Security Cabinet Considers His Removal
The security
cabinet decided Thursday that Arafat is "a absolute obstacle
to the process of reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians,
and Israel will act to remove this obstacle in a manner, at a time
and in ways to be decided separately."
The decision came during a meeting of the 11-minister
strong security cabinet, convened by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to
discuss Israel's response to two suicide bombings in a Jerusalem cafe
and outside an IDF base near Rishon Letzion on Tuesday, in which 15
people were killed.
Israeli sources said that the security cabinet
had also decided to ask the Israel Defense Forces to draw up a plan
for the expulsion Arafat.
The decision on removing Arafat was made without
a vote, with Interior Minister Avraham Poraz (Shinui) the sole minister
opposed to the move. The cabinet decided not to elaborate on exactly
what Arafat's "removal" would entail, whether it meant the
expulsion or the execution of the PA chairman.
Poraz said that the United States was opposed
to any attempt to harm Arafat, and that he had heard a similar message
from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer.
Israeli officials also said earlier that the U.S.
continues to oppose Arafat's expulsion.
During the debate at the Defense Ministry in Tel
Aviv, Sharon called Arafat a "murderer," and Education Minister
Limor Livnat said that there was no moral difference the American
desire to capture ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaida
chief Osama bin Laden and Israel's attempt to strike at Hamas leader
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. She added that there was "no moral difference
between them and Arafat."
PA official: Move will 'destabilize' Mideast A
senior Palestinian security official condemned the decision as "stupid,"
saying that such a move would destabilize the Middle East.
"Harming Arafat or expelling him will destabilize
the region and will only bring disaster to the Israeli people,"
the official said.
"Occupation is terrorism and the Israelis
have to realize that if they implement this stupid decision then they
are committing a crime against their own people and against stability
in the region."
Arafat vowed earlier Thursday to stay put, despite
the IDF commandeering a building overlooking his compound in the West
Bank city of Ramallah earlier in the day as a "message"
to him and his PA.
"No one can kick me out," Arafat said.
Asked if he would leave of his own accord, he said, "definitely
not."
"This is my homeland. This is terra sancta.
No one can kick me out," he told reporters. "They can kill
me. They have bombs," he said.
Arafat called on the quartet of the United States,
Russia, Europe and the United Nations to "move quickly to protect
peace and the road map" peace plan.
Labor Party Chairman Shimon Peres also expressed
his opposition Thursday such a move, Army Radio said. Speaking during
a meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell in Washington, Peres
said that Israel must not force the Palestinian leader from the territories.
A Palestinian guarding Yasser Arafat's copmpound in Ramallah on Thursday.
By Aluf Benn and Gideon Alon,
Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies
Security cabinet: Arafat obstacle
to peace, must be removed
From Ha'aretz: http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/339400.html
Bush
Urges Aggressive Crackdown on Palestinian Militants
President Bush yesterday called for an aggressive
crackdown on Palestinian militant groups, saying the dismantlement
of those groups is "probably the most important condition for
peace to prevail."
Bush's remarks, his first since the newest cycle
of violence began, suggested the administration will not publicly
try to dissuade Israel from targeting groups or individuals responsible
for a recent wave of suicide bombings. The Israeli military in recent
days has targeted leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas
-- narrowly missing one leader but killing his son yesterday -- in
operations that have flattened Palestinian buildings.
In the past, the administration has warned Israel
of the "consequences" of such attacks and has officially
disapproved of assassinations. But Bush yesterday did not repeat those
words of caution, and instead placed the onus on the newly appointed
Palestinian prime minister to wrest control of the Palestinian security
services from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
"His job is to consolidate power within his
administration, to get the security forces under control -- all security
forces -- and then to unleash those security forces against killers,"
Bush told reporters after meeting with the prime minister of Kuwait.
"We can make progress if that's the case."
Bush responded coolly when asked whether he can
work with Ahmed Qureia, whom Arafat named to replace Mahmoud Abbas
after Abbas resigned in frustration Saturday. "Time will tell,"
said Bush, who had tried to bolster Abbas with high-profile meetings
and new commitments of aid.
Administration officials are deeply frustrated
by Arafat's ability to thwart gains in the U.S.-sanctioned peace process,
even after the administration has cut off contact with Arafat and
attempted to marginalize him. But they have also privately warned
Israeli officials not to act on the growing sentiment in Israel to
exile Arafat, believing that would unleash anger across the Arab world
that would complicate U.S. efforts to stabilize Iraq.
Yet some Israeli officials appear to believe that
ousting Arafat is not only necessary, but also worth any repercussions.
The "parties need to be responsible for creating
the conditions necessary for peace to prevail," Bush said. "Probably
the most important condition for peace to prevail is for all parties
to fight off terror, to dismantle organizations whose intent is to
destroy the vision of peace."
Some administration officials interpreted that
statement as giving a green light to Israel to undertake a tough military
response to Hamas. "It's hard not to draw that conclusion,"
one official said. "The White House is reluctant to criticize
the Israelis when they are victims of terrorist activities."
Bush said: "Israel, of course, has got responsibility
not only to protect her people but to create the conditions necessary
for those in the Palestinian Authority who do believe in peace, who
do believe in the vision, to prevail."
Palestinian officials have accused the Israelis
of doing too little to bolster confidence in Abbas during a brief
cease-fire by militant groups, such as lifting roadblocks, releasing
significant numbers of Palestinian prisoners, freezing settlement
activity and improving living conditions. But Israelis have countered
that they withdrew forces from Gaza, fully expecting the Palestinian
authorities to take action against militant groups -- and that they
failed to do so.
U.S. officials are now struggling to find a way
to revive the process -- or at least prevent the violence from spiraling
out of control -- knowing full well that both sides believe the tentative
steps toward peace taken over the summer were a failed experiment.
By Glenn Kessler
Bush Backs Pressure on Palestinian
Militants
From Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57194-2003Sep10.html
Disabled
Israelis, Palestinians bike NY to DC for 9/11
For a group of Israelis and Palestinians visiting
New York, the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks was a
day of hope.
The group of 22 disabled athletes from Tel Aviv,
Haifa and East and West Jerusalem arrived here on Monday to participate
in World TEAM Sports' Face of America, an annual, 435 km bike ride
from Ground Zero to the Pentagon that is dedicated to the 3,016 people
who perished in the attacks.
"This is a chance to show everybody we can
live together," said Yoel Sharon, a 54-year old Israeli who is
paralyzed from the waist down. Injured as a 24-year old student in
the Yom Kippur War, Sharon, an award-winning filmmaker, went on to
found Etgarim, the Israel Outdoor Sports and Recreation Association
for the Disabled, which provides programming for both Jews and Arabs.
"We are here to identify with the terror
victims here in the States," said Sharon, who is racing aboard
a hand cycle. "It's a kind of protest, to say we are here on
the map and nobody stopped us, not even your bomb," he said.
World TEAM Sports, the host of the three-day event
that begins today (Friday), is a non-profit organization that unites
able-bodied and disabled athletes. The organization also sponsors
the participation of athletes from warring regions across the globe,
and some 70 foreign athletes, including 17 Israelis, 5 Palestinians
and participants from Jordan, Vietnam and Afghanistan, are taking
part in this year's event, according to a World TEAM Sports press
release.
"I want to participate in Face of America
to show that handicapped can do something, to show that my condition
is not helpless," said Mustafa Hirbawi, a 22-year old Palestinian
from East Jerusalem.
On January 27, 2002, Hirbawi was injured in a
suicide bombing on Jaffa Road in the capital. Just one person, an
81-year old Israeli man named Pinhas Tokatli, was killed, but Hirbawi
bears the permanent scars of the attack a singed lung, the loss of
several fingers, shrapnel scars and recurrent nightmares.
Hirbawi said his physical and emotional injuries
have prevented him from working or studying since the attack "I
sleep all day, every day" he said but he seemed energetic and
jubilant this week at the Embassy Suites hotel in Lower Manhattan,
where Israeli and Palestinian delegates were getting acquainted and
putting in last-minute training before the start of the race this
morning. Hirbawi said the trip was his first outside Jerusalem.
"Arabs and Jews can exist together,"
he said, after asking a reporter if he could talk about politics.
Meir Mattityahu, 33, an English teacher at the Hebrew University who
has been blind since birth, added, "I'm sure everybody here believes
we should live in peace together." Hirbawi and Mattityahu said
they plan to stay in touch when they return to Jerusalem. "He's
like my social worker, a teacher for my life," said Hirbawi.
Another set of friends preparing for the race,
Hillel Admoni, a 54-year old orthopedic surgeon, and Faiz Raad, a
Druze businessman, described their first meeting in 1981 when Admoni,
a medical resident at Rambam hospital in Haifa, was called to the
emergency room to operate on a severely-wounded IDF soldier.
"A stretcher came in with a huge mess of
flesh, clothes and blood, the remnants of a human body. I really did
not know where to start," said Admoni. The soldier's feet were
amputated, his right hand was amputated and his left hand was left
with just a thumb and index finger. Admoni, who lost the use of his
legs in 1970 in a Navy accident, was asked by hospital officials to
tell the soldier that he had also been blinded in both eyes.
This morning, Admoni plans to hand cycle from
Manhattan to Washington, DC alongside Raad, the soldier whose life
he helped save 22 years ago. Raad, 42, is now the father of three
girls and an avid tandem cyclist.
"My injury is really nothing compared to
his," said Admoni, who uses a wheelchair to get around. Raad,
who learned to walk using prosthetics after just three months of rehabilitation,
was accompanied on the visit, his first to the US, by his brother.
The two spent the days leading up to the race training, touring the
city and shopping.
"Now is the time to go forward," said
Raad, referring to the attitude that has enabled him to live a normal
life despite his injuries. "All of my disabilities have become
abilities."
By MELISSA RADLER
From Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1063266358902
To
the American People:
The people of Israel wish to express their most heartfelt sympathy
for the American people as they mark the tragic events of September
11, 2001. Together, we mourn the loss of the more than 3,000 innocent
victims and valiant heroes.
The ties
of shared values and genuine friendship between our two peoples
are stronger than ever. We support you not only in the global
fight against terrorism, but also in the battle for freedom
and democracy. The world will only know peace and security when
the tyranny of terrorism is finally defeated.
America,
Israel is with you. We share in your grief and will keep the
memory of the fallen and their families in our hearts and prayers
forever.
|
news
archives
