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Posted on 05/21/2005 5:51:52 PM PDT by kingattax
SOUTHERN SHUNEH, Jordan (AP) - While top Israeli and Palestinian officials discussed security at a Middle East forum Saturday, an American senator advised Arab leaders to focus on injustices in their own countries and reminded them that U.S. policy is security for Israel first and justice for Palestinians "if possible."
On the sidelines of a World Economic Forum conference on the Middle East, Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia discussed the recent flare-up of violence threatening their fragile truce as well as Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
"There's an attempt to get the peace process back on track in a bid to make the withdrawal from Gaza, if it happens, a serious, real (and) practical step," Qureia told reporters as he headed into the meeting with Peres at a Dead Sea resort in Jordan.
But Gordon Smith, a Republican senator from Oregon, said the peace process - aimed at bringing about an independent Palestinian state - is unlikely to win serious backing from the Bush administration without a demonstration of commitment from both sides.
"Until we have someone on the other side who is willing to say 'Yes,' we're not going to continue to prostitute the American presidency to people who aren't serious," said Smith, one of six U.S. congressmen who attended the forum. "It's a mystery to me why Arab countries can't work on their own countries before Palestine is fixed," he added.
"Obviously one of the greatest commitments that we have is to the Jewish people and the state of Israel, to try and manage the difficult process of the peace there and securing that nation, and doing so in a way that, if possible, is just to the Palestinians," Smith told a panel that included Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, top officials from Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as academics from Iran and Turkey.
They were among some 1,300 international business and political leaders at the three-day international conference sponsored by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum focused on Mideast problems. The Forum is best known for its glitzy annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
Peres said Palestinian authorities must do their best to end the recent violence that some fear could complicate the pullout.
"We think that terrorist groups are trying to endanger peace," Peres told reporters before the meeting with Qureia. "We expect the Palestinian Authority to take immediate steps," he said, warning violence or further delays of the pullout could endanger the entire process.
In Egypt, visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he believed the recent outbreak of violence was subsiding.
"I think that the situation has begun to come under control in Gaza."
Peres told The Associated Press the Gaza fighting appeared to be a protest by Hamas against the Palestinian Authority over re-elections in certain Palestinian areas called for by the Palestinian Authority.
He said Israel would respond to the outburst "with great restraint."
The Palestinian Interior Ministry said Saturday that the militant group Hamas had agreed to stop firing mortars and rockets at Jewish settlements in Gaza after three straight days of renewed violence that threatened the truce agreed upon in February.
Peres said he believed the pullout could still happen on time.
"I was very pleased that (Qureia) said that the Palestinian Authority will take all the necessary measures to bring security" and to stop the "outburst in Gaza which (is) always an obstacle and a danger to the continuation of the peace," Peres said after their closed-door meeting.
the arabs could care less about the "palestinians".
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It still amazes me how world "leaders" still continue to live the lie of an Israeli/Palestinian peace. It will never happen, until the Arabs stop funding and promoting violence against Israel. The Pals are simply pawns being used like whores for the purpose of killing Jews. It has only been this way for more than four decades now...
I'm from the northeast and don't know Gordon Smith. His statements are refreshingly clear-headed and to the point. Any idea about Smith's position on the US borders?
"Until we have someone on the other side who is willing to say 'Yes,' we're not going to continue to prostitute the American presidency to people who aren't serious," said Smith, one of six U.S. congressmen who attended the forum. "It's a mystery to me why Arab countries can't work on their own countries before Palestine is fixed," he added.
LOL! That's speaking plainly, and probably had several Arab diplomats running screaming for phones to cry to their French allies.
Because the Arabs are descended from the illegitmate son of Abraham, Ishmael, and they are still angry about it.
im not sure...
here is sen smith's contact link :
http://gsmith.senate.gov/webform.htm
Islam is a sadistic, demonic cult. It has been that way since its invention by the pedophile "fake" prophet mohammad in the 7th(?)century. It will remain a sadistic, demonic cult and a malignancy of the human spirit until muslims of good will awaken to the fact and out of love for their children and grand children put an end to islam. If their love of islam is greater than their love for their children, then there is no hope for the people and islam and its practitioners must be outlawed by the civilized world.
that's exactly right, the arab-israeli conflict goes all the way back to isaac and ishmael.
Thanks! He deserves a fan letter for this.
...and islam and its practitioners must be outlawed by the civilized world...
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Well, it is headed this way. The radicals are becoming more radical. These people are making more demands upon people of other religions, which they NO RIGHT TO DO. They infest other countries with the objective of never assimilating into the cultures they invade. They do not fight or suppress the murderers and other cultists in their own ranks, or saying it another way, they condone the behavior of terrorists as a valid method of spreading Islam...rather perverted to say the least.
They are really casting their own fate. Modern Western civilization, the part of which does not tolerate or pander to these cultists, will not tolerate them, and there will be some form of showdown. All logic, and established history, all points in that direction...
I think the Arab/Muslim nations should be pushed to reabsorb the Palestinians. We should condition any further aid on such progress.
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Again, the fact that OUR government is much more focused on its politics, rather than doing what is truly right FOR THIS COUNTRY, prevents us from getting tough with the Arabs, who ARE OUR ENEMY.
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has anyone ever seen any proof of their lineage? I have heard many Mooooslims talk about this lineage....but until I see proof I wont believe it. Moooslims also claim that it was Ishmael and not Isaac who was almost sacrificed by his father for G-d.
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