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U.S. reprimands Israel for siege ![[fie]](graemlins/fie.gif)
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By JAMIE TARABAY, Associated Press
AP Photo/Brennan Linsley
Israeli soldiers stand in front of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's besieged compound, in the West Bank town of Ramallah, on Monday, Sept. 23, 2002.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (September 23, 2002 10:33 a.m. EDT) - Yasser Arafat on Monday rejected Israel's demand that he provide a list of everyone holed up with him in his besieged office, a Palestinian negotiator said after meeting with Israeli officials in the first face-to-face contact in the five-day standoff.
After the talks, Israel eased Arafat's isolation for the first time by allowing two Palestinian negotiators to brief him.
The meeting came a day after Israel halted the demolition of Arafat's headquarters, reportedly amid intense U.S. pressure. Israeli troops on Monday maintained their siege of Arafat's office - the only building left standing - where he is holed up with about 200 aides and security guards.
With the blockade in its fifth day, Palestinian protests and international criticism of the Israeli operation intensified. Israel launched the operation - the third against Arafat's compound this year - after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a Tel Aviv bus, killing himself and six others.
Palestinians held a commercial strike in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Monday. In Gaza, thousands of people marched in support of Arafat, most of them school children bused to the rally, but stores only partially observed the strike and in the West Bank Israeli army curfews kept people at home in many areas.
"We are not going to raise the white flag," a senior Arafat aide, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, told the crowd.
The U.N. Security Council was to convene Monday to discuss the operation. European and Arab states demanded flatly that Israel end its siege.
The U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, met with Ariel Sharon at the prime minister's sheep farm over the weekend. Kurtzer told Sharon the assault on Arafat's compound is disrupting preparations for a possible attack on Iraq and is liable to disrupt internal reforms in the Palestinian Authority, media reports said.
Publicly, the United States said the Israeli operation was not helpful to efforts to fight terrorism.
Israeli Cabinet Secretary Gideon Saar said the United States "understands Israel's right to self defense... On the other hand they have concerns and this is natural."
Monday's meeting between Israeli military officials and Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat took place at Israel's Beit El military base north of Ramallah, Palestinian officials said. Erekat later drove to Arafat's compound in a Mercedes, escorted by an Israeli army jeep.
Erekat said Arafat rejected Israel's demand that he provide a list of names of those with him. "We told them (the Israelis) that this is none of their business, and we called for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal from President Arafat's office, and an end to the siege," Erekat told The Associated Press.
Erekat said Arafat's office building was on the verge of collapse.
Palestinian legislator Hatem Abdel Khader, who spoke to Arafat by phone on Sunday, said the Palestinian leader was not in the mood for concessions. "I will not kneel before Sharon, or will raise a white flag to Sharon," Arafat said, according to Abdel Khader.
Israel has said Arafat is not a target, but demands the surrender of everyone in his office, alleging that suspected terrorists are hiding inside.
"As long as they are not put on trial before their maker or before a judge, we will not end the siege," said a Sharon adviser, Raanan Gissin.
At first, Israel had demanded surrender of about 20 suspected militants, including the Palestinian intelligence chief, Tawfik Tirawi.
Sharon, meanwhile, hinted that Israel might soon launch an offensive in the Gaza Strip, where senior leaders of Hamas are based. The Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for last week's Tel Aviv bus bombing which triggered the assault on Arafat's office.
"Gaza serves as a center for Hamas," Sharon said Monday. "The day will come, as soon as we get the necessary troops together, that we will have to do this to strike against Hamas and prevent its ability to act."
The Palestinians asked for international help.
Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh, speaking by telephone to The Associated Press from the surrounded building, said the Security Council must act. "This is a dangerous and unacceptable situation," he said.
Israeli military bulldozers pulled out of the city-block-sized compound after nightfall Sunday, the army said. Arafat's office, where he and his aides are confined to four rooms, is the only building still intact and is surrounded by three layers of barbed wire and partially by a trench.
On Sunday, four Palestinians were killed during confrontations between demonstrators and soldiers. A fifth, a 13-year-old boy, was shot dead by troops, a British activist who witnessed the killing said Monday. Military officials said Baha Albahsh set himself alight while handling a fire bomb, but a Palestinian doctor said he was killed by a gunshot in the chest.
Baha Albahsh was walking near a group of foreign activists in Nablus when an armored car arrived, said Ewa Jasiewics, 24, a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, which stages protests against the Israeli army.
"A soldier popped up from inside. I saw him with his rifle and he aimed at some kids on the street. There was no stone-throwing or shooting going on at the time," Jasiewics said.
"This soldier fired," she said. "It wasn't accidental."
Israelis were divided over the operation against Arafat. Some hardline Cabinet Ministers urged Sharon to expel Arafat. Interviewed Sunday on CNN, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres confirmed for the first time that in an emergency session after the suicide bombing, Israel's Cabinet considered expelling Arafat.
"We don't want to expel him, we don't want to kill him, we don't want to hurt him," Peres said. "There was a vote in the government. The majority of the government decided against expulsion."
Critics charged that the operation was counterproductive.
The demonstrations were evidence that contrary to the Israeli intention of isolating Arafat and neutralizing him, the assault boosted his sagging prestige, said Israeli analyst Danny Rubinstein.
Just days earlier, on Sept. 11, the Palestinian parliament had dealt Arafat his worst internal defeat in decades, forcing resignation of his Cabinet.
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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