US refuses to condemn Israeli incursion
- From: "Muslim News" <editor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <submit@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 09:38:28 +0100
WASHINGTON, March 29: In comments strong on criticism of Palestinian
violence, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell refused on
Friday to condemn the armed Israeli incursion into Ramallah , President
Yasser Arafat's compound, where fighting raged all day.
The secretary merely said he hoped Israel would carefully consider the
consequences of its actions, and revealed that Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon had assured him that the intention of the Israeli operation in
Ramallah was not to capture or kill Yasser Arafat. At the same time, he
said, the US understood the need for Israel to defend itself against
terrorist attacks.
Powell stressed that Arafat was the leader of the Palestinian people,
and his leadership was now even more central to ending the current
crisis. He said the US was gravely concerned at the developing situation
and expected Israel to show restraint and minimize loss of life.
But the thrust of Powell's remarks, made at a special briefing at the
State Department, was directed on the need for Palestinians and
President Arafat to end "terrorist' attacks against Israel that targeted
innocent civilians.
The secretary referred to the Passover suicide bombing and the bombing
on Friday, and said these acts had caused the present crisis and
disrupted the guarded optimism that was seen earlier this week with
Israel's readiness to abandon some of the conditions it had attached to
the implementation of the Tenet security plan.
He reiterated the US insistence on Arafat moving against Palestinian
groups believed to be involved in violent activities and calling on
Palestinian people to stop acts of violence. Powell said US special
envoy Anthony Zinni would remain in the region, and he himself (Powell)
hoped to talk to Arafat later in the day.
Powell's remarks came amidst extensive television coverage of the
Israeli attack on Ramallah and the destruction wrought there by Israeli
tanks and soldiers. Many buildings in the Arafat compound had been
reduced to rubble.
The secretary said he had been assured by the Israeli authorities that
they had no intention of staying indefinitely in Ramallah and wanted
only to isolate President Arafat and arrest "terrorists."
The situation was discussed by President Bush with his national security
advisers on Friday before Powell's briefing. The secretary declined to
specify any steps that the US might consider to defuse the situation,
such as the deployment of cease-fire monitors in the region, but said he
was not ruling anything out.
Source: Dawn
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