Posted on 04/21/2002 2:47:01 PM PDT by Democrats are liars
MADRID (Reuters) - The European Union has warned Israel not to assault Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters and called for a peaceful solution to a standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
In a statement issued by EU president Spain, the 15-nation bloc issued "a serious warning against any act of force carried out against the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, which could endanger the physical security of President Arafat and the (other) people there."
The statement, published on Spain's EU presidency Web site on Sunday, carried Saturday's date.
The EU also said it was ready to help find a legal solution "to the question of the people detained by the Palestinian Authority who are inside the Palestinian presidential complex" -- a reference to suspects that Israel wants handed over.
The EU requested that medical and humanitarian organizations be allowed immediate access to Palestinian towns and it stressed the importance of a United Nations mission to probe Israel's assault on the Jenin refugee camp.
The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on Friday for a fact-finding mission on the devastation in Jenin.
Israeli tanks rumbled out of two West Bank cities on Sunday after a crushing three-week occupation but kept up sieges of Arafat's headquarters and the Bethlehem church, one of Christianity's holiest sites, where gunmen are holed up.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Israeli forces would stay outside Arafat's compound until three men accused of killing an Israeli cabinet minister last year were turned over.
Israel also wants the handover of Arafat's chief financial officer, Fuad Shubaki, whom it suspects of trying to smuggle arms from Iran into the Palestinian territories.
Arafat has offered to put Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi's suspected assassins on trial in a Palestinian court.
The EU asked "all parties involved to do everything necessary to find a peaceful outcome to the siege of the Church of the Nativity" in Bethlehem.
Israeli troops remain locked in a stalemate with wanted Palestinian militants trapped with more than 200 policemen, clerics and civilians inside the church, revered as the birthplace of Jesus.
Spain hosts a meeting in Valencia this week of foreign ministers from EU and Mediterranean states, which Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres is expected to attend.
I would suggest they do something positive before shooting off their Fat Mouths.
"How 'bout I put a few of the boys on trial?" | "Yassir, This is Colin Powell, on my Terrorist Appeasement Tour, and I'm on my way to negotiate...I just need a sign that you're a man of piece." | 'nuf said. |
I'm encouraged by the recent voting pattern in Europe, though. The German leftist weenie, Schroeder, might very well be tossed out in September. The Danes voted against replacing their currency with the Euro. The Italians are moving to the right. It's somewhat encouraging.
The Israelis have no intention of assaulting Arafat's compound. This EU warning is silly, both in its timing and content. The only question is when Israel will let him out.
Presumably it will be after the standoff at the church has ended and when Arafat turns over the five terrorists he's sheltering. A couple more weeks, perhaps.
France will hold the runoff round of the election between the top two candidates on May 5.
CANDIDATE - PARTY - %
Jacques Chirac - Rally for the Republic 20.47
Jean-Marie Le Pen - National Front 16.80
Lionel Jospin - Socialist Party 14.75
Jean Saint-Josse - Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Tradition 7.28
Francois Bayrou - Centrist 6.66
Arlette Laguiller - Workers' Struggle 5.85
Olivier Besancenot - Revolutionary Communist League 4.58
Noel Mamere - Greens 4.57
Jean-Pierre Chevenement - Republican Pole 4.53
Alain Madelin - Liberal Democracy 3.73
Robert Hue - Communist Party 3.08
Bruno Megret - National Republican Movement 2.36
Corinne Lepage - independent ecologist 1.79
Christiane Taubira - Radical Left Party 1.73
Christine Boutin - independent centrist 1.31
Daniel Gluckstein - Workers' Party 0.52
Registered electorate 9,382,669
Abstentions 24.61 percent
All the Lefties voted against each other, and a far-rightie is up against Chirac for the whole enchilada.
That's great news. No socialist in the runoff for the first time in a zillion years. Now, if the conservatives can keep those wacko parties from forming a leftist coalition in Parliament, maybe France can even avoid having a leftist Prime Minister.
One can hope!
See what happens.
The other day I was viewing FoxNews footage from the West bank when they trasnitioned to a clip of tanks trying to move through the Jenin area. Surrounding the tanks were a group of shoulder-to-shoulder French healthcare workers who refused to move or let the tanks pass. Of course these charming people were trashing the Israeli soldiers for even trying to conduct their business.
My tollerance for anything French is about as low as it could be.
Hitler was elected, you know, and who else should they negotiate with?:::shaking head::: I think you missed the point. You DON'T negotiate with Hitler or Hitler types. History has proven Chamberlain to be a fool...
From one Native NewYorker to another...
matt
sf, ca, usa (by way of nyc)
www.rice2008.com
Who was Arafat's opponent, and who certified this result?
As an outsider not native to Palestine, how did he even qualify to be on the ballot?
WHAT ballot?
This is just a mass murderer with delusions of grandeur.
(HINT: The State funeral would've been held 3 weeks ago...)
In related news, the weather forcast calls for over-cast skys, and rainy weather for Paris next week.
Not wasting any time, France surrendered.
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