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| Middle East |
| Sharon Met Senior Palestinians in Secret |
| 2003-02-08 |
| Israeli media disclosed that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon held secret talks with two senior Palestinian officials before and after last month's general elections. Channel One of the Israeli public TV said Sharon held his first meeting with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's PLO deputy, Mahmud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen, before his Likud party won the general elections last month. A second meeting was held on Wednesday, February 5, at Sharon's ranch in the southern Negev desert with the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Ahmed Qorei, also known as Abu Ala. Everybody's got an alias... I think I'll use "Captain Bloodblister." Whaddya think? The channel also said that Israeli Chief of Staff Dov Weisglass and U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, also attended the talks. According to the channel, Weisglass held talks with Palestinian Interior Minister Hani al-Hassan Wednesday. It cited sources close to the government as saying more such meetings were expected in the near future. The talks, which apparently came about under pressure from the U.S. administration, centered on the possibility of a ceasefire and efforts to strengthen the Palestinian Authority. They want Yasser and crew to hang on for awhile, since Hamas has decided they'd like to be in charge. They'd just like it to happen without Yasser. Yasser, of course, doesn't want to go... According to Israeli reports, Sharon's secret talks were aimed at improving the climate in the Arab world for U.S. efforts to gain support for a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. On January 30, 2002, Sharon met with Arafat's economic adviser, Mohammad Rashid. Sharon has said several times he was holding secret talks with the Palestinians, despite the fact his government and the United States have actively tried to have Arafat sidelined. Probably any substantive talks they have will concern getting Yasser lined still further to the side. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #5 Sharon is builind up Hassan and Abu mazen to take over the PA when Arafat is eased out post-Iraq. He knows Israel cant hold the territories forever, cant give them up to Arafat. Some (on both the left and right) say Sharon is pretending - I think he's not. Also helps US at this moment - most valuable, and will earn brownie points for later. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2003-02-10 08:34:33 |
| #4 I think that this is all window dressing, especially if it came out in the press. Hamas, Hezbollah, and Yasser the Ramallite will go, the question is when, and the answer is when they start ululating and firing when we go into Iraq. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-02-08 15:15:10 |
| #3 worst idea? arming the PA to balance the Yassin killers...The IDF should take Hamas down a few pegs first, and unless keeping Yassin alive to identify who he deals with (a likely rationale), he should be first on the list to be whacked before the Ararat |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-02-08 13:47:21 |
| #2 I think they've got to let the remnants of the Paleostinian Authority weaken Hamas sufficiently before Mullah Yassin's boyz take over... At least I hope that's what they're doing - if there are more shootouts between the two sides, we'll know that's working. |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-02-08 10:59:45 |
| #1 Israel needs to give up the fantasy of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas is what the Palis want, and that's what they should get. Deal with the facts. |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2003-02-08 10:36:04 |