UN action urged to protect Arafat
( 2003-09-16 07:46) (Agencies)
The United Nations met Monday to consider a resolution that would call on Israel to ensure Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's safety, spurred by a top Israeli official's comment that killing Arafat was an option.
At the start of a meeting on the troubled region, the chief U.N. envoy to the Middle East, Terje Roed-Larsen, said that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process had broken down and that he fears even worse bloodletting.
"The recent cycle of terror attacks and extrajudicial killings has broken the Palestinian cease-fire and brought the process to a standstill," Roed-Larsen told the Security Council.
Roed-Larsen, who said it was too early to declare the peace process as finished, stressed that Arafat was a democratically elected leader who "embodies Palestinian identity and national aspirations."
The Palestinian-drafted resolution, which demands that Israel refrain from taking any action against Arafat, gathered momentum after a statement by a senior Israeli official Sunday indicated that Israel was considering killing Arafat to make good on its pledge to "remove" him.
U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said that Israel was already aware of widespread opposition to its declaration on Arafat and that no resolution was needed.
Before the meeting, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Dan Gillerman, accused the Security Council of "hypocrisy" for considering the resolution after declining to convene to discuss Palestinian suicide bombings and shootings.
The Security Council began consultations on the resolution Friday night and then adjourned until Monday, despite Palestinian pressure for a quick vote.
In the interim, the council issued a statement expressing "the view that the removal of chairman Arafat would be unhelpful and should not be implemented." The statement, read by the council president, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, reflected the consensus among the 15 council members.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom sought Monday to soften Sunday's statement by Vice Premier Ehud Olmert, who said "killing [Arafat] is ... one of the options" under consideration to effect Israel's decision to "remove" him.
Killing Arafat "is not the official policy of the Israeli government," Shalom told reporters Monday. "It was never before, and we don't speak about any killing, we didn't speak about it before, and we don't speak about it today."
Israel blames Arafat for blocking peace efforts and preventing a crackdown against militants who have carried out two suicide bombings in the last week. Arafat denies the accusations.
World leaders roundly denounced the suggestion that Israel could assassinate Arafat, a prospect that U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday would incite rage among Arabs and Muslims.
"The Israelis know our position quite well," Powell said on "Fox News Sunday" during a visit to Iraq. "The United States does not support either the elimination of him or the exile of Mr. Arafat."
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned Monday that such a move would risk "total chaos."
Last week, Israel's security Cabinet decided in principle to "remove" Arafat, but did not say what action would be taken, and when.
The Israeli decision, which came in response to twin suicide bombings by the Islamist militant group Hamas that killed 15 people last week, has revived Arafat's flagging popularity and reaffirmed his status as leader and national symbol.
Thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets in daily protests since last week. However, the initial spontaneity has worn off, and schoolchildren were sent into the streets Monday in several West Bank towns to demonstrate support.
At Arafat's headquarters in the town of Ramallah, about 200 scouts beating drums and waving Arafat posters gathered in the courtyard. Arafat briefly appeared at the sandbagged entrance, smiled and flashed victory signs.
Activists from Arafat's Fatah movement pitched six more tents in the compound, saying they would serve as human shields to protect him from a possible Israeli raid. One tent was erected over the weekend.
Fatah legislators also met Monday to come up with candidates for Cabinet posts. The outgoing prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, widely known as Abu Mazen, had come under constant criticism from Fatah, in part because the party felt it was not sufficiently represented in his Cabinet.
"Fatah institutions will choose the members of the government, in consultation with President Arafat," said legislator Hani al-Hassan.
The move appears to grant Arafat de facto control over the composition of the Cabinet.
In pressing for the appointment of a prime minister earlier this year, the United States and Israel hoped to sideline Arafat. However, Arafat has refused to relinquish any of his powers, and constant wrangling over authority contributed to Abbas' resignation earlier this month.
Acting Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, known as Abu Ala, has told confidants that he has no intention of challenging Arafat. It remained unclear whether Fatah would present Qureia with a pool of candidates from which he would fill 16 Cabinet posts or whether he would simply accept a list of 16 names.
Shalom repeated Monday that Qureia would be judged on his actions, but he made it clear that he would have preferred Abbas to remain in power. Qureia "is not as good as Abu Mazen because he knows his power comes from Arafat," Shalom said.
In a sign that Israelis were bending on other U.S. demands, Israeli security officials said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had decided not to build, for now, a section of security barrier that would have dipped deep into the West Bank to incorporate Jewish settlements in the center of territory that Palestinians want for a state.
The previously intended route of the barrier enraged Palestinians, who saw it as a land grab, and was strongly opposed by the United States.
The plan to erect a security barrier between Israel and the West Bank is popular in Israel to block suicide bombers. No Palestinian bombers have come from the Gaza Strip, which is fenced.
Israel has completed about 90 miles of the West Bank barrier, whose fences, trenches, razor wire and concrete walls could eventually run more than 400 miles, depending on the ultimate route.
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