Posted on 04/08/2002 12:54:26 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday the Israeli army would continue its massive military crackdown on Palestinians "until the mission is completed." He again blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for failing to control attacks on Israelis.
Sharon, speaking to the Knesset, refused U.S. calls for a halt to the action in which some 200 Palestinians have been killed. He said the Israeli Defense Forces would stop the operation once it had "dismantled Arafat's terror infrastructure."
Israel opened the offensive in response to a series of suicide bombings, including a blast that killed 27 Israelis at a Passover Seder.
The prime minister said that upon withdrawal, the army would establish buffer zones between Palestnian and Israeli areas.
Sharon's speech included a call for an immediate meeting with "moderate and responsible leaders of the Middle East" to discuss peace. He said he would be ready for such a meeting, "any place, without any conditions from any sides."
Palestinian leaders responded by saying Sharon's speech sought to make a trip to the region by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell a failure even before it begins. Powell, in Morocco, is to arrive in Israel Friday.
Powell: 'Do It Now'
After a meeting Monday with Moroccan King Mohammed VI, Powell called for "a clear statement from Israel that they are beginning to withdraw" from Palestinian territories and said "to do it now."
In Knoxville, Tenn., President Bush said: "The United States is firmly committed to achieving peace. I meant what I said about withdrawal without delay, and I mean what I say when I call upon the Arab world to strongly condemn against terrorist activities."
Lead Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sharon "is telling Powell: 'Don't come because we have finished everything. We are setting up buffer zone. We will continue the occupations and will not end our operations.'"
Sharon: Arafat Leads 'Murder Gangs'
As harsh as those comments were, Sharon's words for Arafat were even tougher. The prime minister said, "The murder gangs have a leader, have an aim ... and one dispatcher: The head of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat."
Breaking with Knesset protocol, Sharon displayed documents the Israelis say they found at Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah. One was a request for money for explosives belts. Another showed Arafat had authorized payments to militants.
Arafat established "a regime of terror ... that trains, incites, funds, arms and sends terrorists to kill inside Israel," the prime minister charged.
Sharon tacitly rejected the U.S. demand that Israel withdraw from Palestinian areas it occupied in recent days.
"Every time we lifted a closure, opened a route and pulled the army back, we met with terrible attacks," he said.
The Israeli army detained some 1,500 wanted people, including more than 500 who "have the blood of Israeli citizens on their hands," Sharon told the Knesset.
"The army's missions haven't been fulfilled, and the Israel Defense Forces will continue to operate, at the fastest possible speed, until the mission is completed, until Arafat's terror infrastructure is dismantled and until the murderers ... are caught," he declared.
In the Church
Palestinian gunmen have barricaded themselves in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Sharon said they took clerics hostage. He said he expected the "international community" to demand they lay down their arms and leave the holy site. Until then the army "will remain in its positions," he stated. "We do not intend to desecrate the sanctity of the place."
However, British Broadcasting Corp. quoted a Roman Catholic representative at the Church of the Nativity as saying the Israelis committed an "indescribable act of barbarity" by engaging in a firefight with people inside the structure. There were conflicting reports as to which side began the gunfight.
Sharon insisted Israel did not want to hold on to the Palestinian cities it recently occupied. When the army fulfills its mission it will withdraw to "specified security areas."
"In those security areas the forces will deploy to form a wedge between the Palestinian areas and ours to prevent incursions into Israeli localities and harming Israel's residents," he said.
They also would be ready for initiated and targeted strikes "against all who will try to continue the war of terror against us," the prime minister said.
Turning to the Saudi peace initiative, endorsed at the recent Arab summit meeting, Sharon said it had "a positive element, but details have to be negotiated." The initiative calls for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 war boundaries and offers full peace.
Sharon, who opposes a full withdrawal, noted U.N. Security Council Res. 242 recognized Israel's right to live in "recognized and secure boundaries" and said these had to be negotiated. He said Israel could not discuss a return of Palestinian refugees to its territory.
Sharon's speech often was interrupted by heckling from Arab members of parliament, one of whom eventually was ordered out of the hall.
Opposition leader Yossi Sarid, of the dovish Meretz Party, told Sharon the army's actions had enhanced Arafat's prestige among the Palestinian people and made him "more of a hero than ever."
Rather than isolate Arafat, world reaction to the Israeli drive showed Arafat isolated Israel, Sarid said. Copyright 2002 by United Press International.
Excellent… might I suggest this should be :
· The Golan Heights
· The Jordan River
· The Gaza Strip
· The Sinai Peninsula
Owl_Eagle
”Guns Before Butter.”
Let Sharon kill each and everyone of them. Peace through strength, not weak-kneed Colon Powell BS!
Go and get'em boys!
In the fight againt evil, the "rest of the world" is NEVER important when it comes to the soverienty and security of America and her allies.
If you are interested, and I know you are, here is an article that points out some of the benefits to the US from this military aid.
Bush should be sending in AC-130s and Daisy Cutters, not Colon Powell.
I guess 9/11 hasn't changed everyone's minds, nor has it made people wiser.
Western Civilization.
I guess I've missed an important event in the Middle East. When and how were "Palestinian territories" set up? That's tantamount to there being a Palestinian state. Of course, maybe Powell has a different historical viewpoint.
In any event, Israel acquired those disputed areas as spoils of war from Jordan, etc., just as nations have been acquiring territory for millenia, and just as the Texians took Texas from Mexico. I also don't recall the Arab states ceding any territory to the Palestinians nor do I think Israel has.
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