 |
 |
|
|
||
Newsletter : 1fax0628.txt
Directory | Previous file | Next file
>PD
>Israel Faxx
>JN June 28, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 108
Sharon Willing to Meet with Assad
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated on Wednesday that he was willing to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad without any preconditions.
On Tuesday, while in France, al-Assad announced his willingness to meet with Sharon providing Israel agrees to a withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
Powell Says Israel to Determine Timetable for Peace
By Ross Dunn (VOA-Jerusalem)
Secretary of State Colin Powell will meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders Thursday in an effort to strengthen a U.S. brokered ceasefire. Powell is hoping to convince both sides to uphold a cease-fire and to implement the recommendations of a fact-finding committee headed by former Sen. George Mitchell.
Powell faces the formidable task of attempting to bridge the gaps between Israelis and Palestinians. Each side is blaming the other for perpetuating the violence.
A ceasefire brokered by CIA Director George Tenet on June 13 is in danger of unraveling. At least 15 people have died since the truce was announced.
Powell is expected to urge Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat to further reduce violence so that the Mitchell peace plan can be fully implemented. Powell is expected to meet Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer wants Powell to deliver a tough message to the Palestinian leader urging him to halt all the attacks and return to negotiations.
Ben-Eliezer says that Arafat must come to the conclusion that the Palestinians will never reach their goal of independence through violence against Israel.
"I hope to see him (Arafat) realize it is impossible. It is impossible to put a threat on Israel through terror or massive terror and to bring Israel to give up everything. It will not happen. And I hope that he will get back to the reality and get back to the (negotiating) table."
Powell can expect to hear a different message when he meets with Arafat and his advisers. The leader of Arafat's Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the West Bank is Marwan Barghouti, who accused Israel of not honoring the ceasefire. He said the Palestinians will not end their uprising until Israel agrees to withdraw its troops from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, the areas it has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war.
It is Powell's second visit to the region in four months. His trip comes one day after Sharon met with President Bush at the White House. It was Sharon's second trip to Washington in three months.
Jewish Settlers Protest Planned Evacuation
By Ross Dunn (VOA-Jerusalem)
Jewish settlers and right-wing Israeli cabinet ministers are campaigning to halt a Defense Ministry decision to evacuate 15 new outposts in the West Bank.
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer says he is determined to move ahead with his plan to remove 15 Jewish outposts established without government permission in the West Bank.
He insisted that his orders be carried out by next week. But a growing number of Israeli government ministers say they will challenge his decision at the next cabinet meeting.
Communications Minister Ruby Rivlin referred to the West Bank by the biblical names Judea and Samaria and said Jewish settlers are playing an important role, allowing Israel to keep a strategic hold over the territory.
"We are coming to the settlers, who came here in order to fulfil the resolutions of all the governments of Israel because we believe this a strategic move of the Israeli state and the Israeli people to build in the areas of Judea and Samaria and especially in northern Jerusalem."
Despite such displays of public support, many Jewish settlers say they are unhappy with Israeli government policies. They are demanding that Sharon do more to protect them.
Jewish leaders have begun a vigil outside Sharon's office in Jerusalem, protesting what they call the "bleeding" Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire agreement mediated earlier this month by the CIA director.
Assad Visit to France Marred by Controversy
By Lisa Bryant (VOA-Paris)
Syrian President Bashar al Assad ended a highly controversial
three-day trip to France under the cloud of alleged anti-Semitic
remarks he made recently in Damascus.
Assad criticized the United States for not doing more for peace in
the Middle East. He said he has no intention of meeting President
Bush in Washington or Damascus. He also accused Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon of pushing the region toward war.
But much of the attention surrounding Assad's trip focused on remarks he made earlier this year, during a visit to Syria by Pope John Paul II. Assad has said the remarks, which alluded to Jews being the killers of Jesus and trying to kill the prophet Mohammed, were not anti-Semitic and were misinterpreted by Western media. He said his comments were directed at Israel, not Jews.
That did not stop thousands from demonstrating in Paris and Marseilles on Monday in rallies organized by French Jewish groups. Several human rights groups also denounced Assad. So did a number of French parliamentarians.
| Home My Account Search Contact Us |
by Electronic World Communications, Inc.)
