As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall
the slain of all the earth. Jeremiah 51:49
 

US Expects Israel Not to Harm Arafat
David Gollust
Washington
23 Apr 2004, 23:54 UTC

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=D9F464EE-F4F3-491B-BFD5D1348738C4DB

The Bush administration Friday reaffirmed its opposition to Israel trying to
exile or kill Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The comments followed an
assertion by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that he was no longer bound
by a commitment to the United States not to harm the Palestinian Authority
chief.

A senior Bush administration official says the United States has made it
"entirely clear" that it would oppose any action to harm Yasser Arafat and
that the U.S. position has been reiterated to Israeli authorities following
the latest Sharon remarks.

The Israeli Prime Minister said in a television interview Friday that he
told President Bush at their White House meeting last week that he had
released himself from a commitment he made to the United States three years
ago not to physically harm Mr. Arafat.

The senior administration official, who spoke to reporters at the White
House, said the issue had come up at the April 14 meeting and that the
President reiterated U.S. opposition to such an action.

He said the matter had been taken up with Israel following the Sharon
interview remarks and that the United States considers the Sharon promise to
still be operative. "We consider a pledge," he said, "a pledge."

The Bush administration has opposed Israel's "targeted killing" of
Palestinians, and denied giving Israel a "green light" for the helicopter
strike in Gaza last Saturday that killed Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

In a statement after the attack, the White House said Israel has a right to
defend itself from terrorists, but that it was "gravely concerned" about
regional peace and stability and that Israel should carefully consider the
consequences of its actions.

In another development, Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia Friday in the highest-level
U.S.-Palestinian contact since the Bush-Sharon meeting, which produced a
U.S. endorsement of Mr. Sharon's controversial plan for disengagement from
the Palestinians.

The Sharon plan calls for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza but
would allow some Jewish settlements to remain in the West Bank.

The Bush administration has stressed the importance of the Gaza pullback as
a catalyst for reviving the regional peace process.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Secretary Powell urged Mr.
Qureia and also Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath, in a similar
conversation on Wednesday, to consider the Gaza withdrawal an opportunity:

"In both those conversations, the Secretary emphasized the importance of
moving forward," he said. "In both those conversations, the Secretary
emphasized our desire to take the opportunity that was presented by Israeli
withdrawal from territory, the withdrawal of Israeli settlers from Gaza as
well as some places on the West Bank, to make it work, for the Palestinians
to take responsibility, and for this to be seen as an opportunity."

Palestinians were outraged by statements by President Bush last week that it
would be "unrealistic" for Israel to return to pre-1967 borders as part of a
peace settlement, and that Palestinian refugees would be expected to return
to an envisaged Palestinian state, not Israel.

Mr. Boucher said the Secretary listened to Palestinian concerns in the two
phone conversations, while reiterating the U.S. stand that the President was
not prejudging final-status issues between the sides.

The spokesman said the United States will continue working with the parties
and the international "quartet" on the Middle East to "try to move forward."

There had been tentative plans for a senior-level meeting of the "quartet",
the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, next
week in Berlin. But there were logistical problems, and U.S. officials say
the meeting is now likely to be held at the U.N. early next month.

Maranatha,
David
www.soundanalarm.net