Arafat, Arabs in Disarray

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Registered: 04-05-2004
Arafat, Arabs in Disarray
1
Thu, 04-15-2004 - 4:47pm
By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff

April 15, 2004

Jerusalem (jnewswire.com) - The Palestinian Authority was seemingly reeling with rage Thursday at US President George W. Bush's strong endorsement of Israel's plan to unilaterally pull out of the Gaza Strip.

After demanding an Israeli withdrawal for 36 years, the "Palestinians" appeared to have been out maneuvered.

Apparently they never expected Israeli prime Minister Ariel Sharon to follow through on his threat to unilaterally "disengage" from them.

Instead of rejoicing at the prospect of soon having Gaza to themselves, they were left protesting and voicing violent threats.

An apparently furious and defiant Yasser Arafat told the world Thursday terrorism (he called it "resistance") would increase until all Jews had been forced off what he has always falsely claimed to be "Palestinian" land.

What got the PLO leader's goat was Bush's public recognition of Israel's right to retain control over large Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, and his rejection of the notion that millions of "Palestinian" refugees would be allowed to flood sovereign Israel under the "right of return."

The American leader's position - which the world press without exception spun as "a major policy shift" - in fact followed the guidelines of UN resolution 242 - a document often misrepresented as calling for a complete Israeli retreat to the country's 1949 borders.

Like a plotter whose scheme has been unexpectedly frustrated, Arafat appointee Ahmed Qureia made protesting noises about resigning as "Palestinian" prime minister, and echoed his boss's sentiment that the Middle East "peace" process was effectively doomed.

For once, it appeared as if the PLO leadership had been effectively sidelined, its decades of terror-driven planning and strategizing suddenly left with nowhere to go.

The wider Arab world too spluttered in indignation, with the Arab League openly accusing the Bush administration of adopting Israel's position in the conflict.

Arafat outfoxed

After seeing his warning to President Bush not to support Sharon go unheeded, Arafat summoned the press to his Ramallah compound Thursday to spell out his response to this American "betrayal."

He vowed that his people would never relinquish their fight for liberty and independence in their own state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The aging terrorist chieftain declared it was the right of the Palestinian Arabs to "return" to their homes inside sovereign Israel.

He threatened to increase the level of violence against Israel until "Israeli occupiers and herds of settlers … leave Palestinian land."

Global campaign

Arafat spokesman Saeb Erekat told journalists the PLO would conduct an intense campaign to rally the rest of the international community behind the Palestinian position and against the American and Israeli one.

"The world should know that we reject the statements of President Bush which deprive our people of their right of return, oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders and support Sharon's plan to annex West Bank settlements built on our people's properties," Erekat exclaimed.

Qureia to quit?

"Palestinian" Prime Minister Qureia is reported to be considering leaving his post, according to the Israeli daily Ha'aretz.

In a telephone call possibly designed to convey a sincere sense of outrage to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Qureia accused the Bush administration of adopting "an absolute bias against the Palestinian position."

"We fully reject these unilateral measures and their consequences," he said.

Apoplectic Arabs

A spokesman for the Arab League, Hesham Youssef, leveled a broadside at Bush Thursday afternoon, saying the organization had always believed the US was "unbalanced," but "now we can't even say that. The United States has adopted Israel's position."

The League has for decades seen the PLO as an instrument through which to wage a united Arab effort to destroy the Jewish state.

Any setback in Arafat's attempts to achieve this aim is seen as a setback for the entire Muslim Arab world.

http://www.jnewswire.com/news_archive/04/04/040415_arabs.asp


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 04-16-2004 - 9:10am

There's thread on this subject..................


U.S. expected to back Israeli settlement.


http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-elinthenews&msg=6363.1&ctx=0

cl-Libraone~

 


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