| Submit your comments on this article |
| Middle East |
| Arafat: I don’t coordinate with Abu Mazen |
| 2003-05-25 |
| JPost - reg req'd; Same ol' song and dance Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said there is not "full coordination" between him and his newly appointed prime minister and that Palestinians have the right to resist Israeli occupation in an interview with a leading Arabic newspaper. Arafat's remarks in Sunday's edition of Asharq al-Awsat came as the Israeli cabinet met to consider whether to conditionally accept a U.S.-backed "road map" for Middle East peace. Which Fox says was narrowly approved "I cannot say there is full cooperation on all issues," Arafat said of Abbas. "He is carrying out his duties and I am doing my work." Keeping the boomers going, meeting with my good friend M De Villepinhead It was Arafat's first public comment about Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, who he reluctantly named as the Palestinian Authority's first prime minister at the end of April. The two have had a stormy relationship over the years, and there have been long periods in which they refused to speak to each other. U.S. President George W. Bush said Friday that he was considering convening a three-way meeting with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to push for implementation of the road map. If held, it would be the first time Arafat would be excluded from high-profile peace efforts since he became head of the Palestinian Authority after he signed the Oslo peace accord with Israel in 1993. The Bush administration has tried to marginalize Arafat as an ineffective leader entwined in terror attacks on Israel. In the interview, conducted at his Ramallah headquarters, Arafat said the Palestinians would continue their resistance to the Israeli occupation. "Our position has not changed. We are against the killing of the civilians, whether they are Palestinians or Israelis, but resisting the occupation is something and aggression on civilians is something else," Arafat told the London-based paper. He lies almost as well as Clinton - it's pathological But he specified what he meant by civilians, saying, "It is inadmissible to kill a child or a woman in a restaurant or a cafe." But a bus? OK. Pizzeria? OK The first phase of the road map calls on Palestinians to rein in militants who have been carrying attacks on Israelis and IDF troops to withdraw from Palestinian towns. Militant leaders have told Abbas they would only halt attacks on Israeli civilians if Israel calls off military strikes. Israel has said it would only make a move after the Palestinians crack down on the terrorist organizations. In the interview, Arafat said the refugee problem should be solved according to U.N. Security Council Resolution 194 of 1948, which calls for the refugees either to be allowed to return to their homes or duly compensated But no compensation for Jews from other Arab countries who were kicked out and/or killed. Cuz they're Jeeewwss |
| Posted by:Frank G |