Korei Says He Won't Be PM Under 'Israeli Dictate' ( Story complete with usual Reuters bias)

World
Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2003
Korei Says He Won't Be PM Under 'Israeli Dictate'

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Ahmed Korei, nominated to be the next Palestinian prime minister, said on Tuesday he would not take the job if he faced the same "Israeli dictate" of military crackdowns that undermined his predecessor.

Laying down terms for accepting what many see as a poisoned chalice, Korei urged Israel to stop trying to isolate President Yasser Arafat and halt army raids against Islamic militants, the latest of which killed three Palestinians including a boy of 11.

Korei has delayed a decision on whether to accept Arafat's nomination to replace Mahmoud Abbas, who quit on Saturday, leaving the fate of a U.S.-backed peace plan in the balance.

"I have told the Americans, Arabs, Russians...everybody, that this situation cannot continue. I will not be under the Israeli dictate-- 'do this and don't do that'," he told Reuters.

He was referring to Israeli demands the Palestinian Authority crush militant groups, an obligation under the peace plan but a step which Palestinian officials say could sow civil war if Israel's army maintains its grip on Palestinian cities.

Korei called for a cease-fire agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, rather than another unilateral truce by militants to ensure both sides keep their powder dry.

He said Palestinian leaders were committed to co-existence with Israel under the "road map" peace plan outlining steps to end nearly three years of violence and create a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by 2005.

"But under these circumstances on the ground at the moment, and the way the Israelis are dealing with the elected president of the Palestinian people, I cannot succeed," said Korei, the Palestinian parliamentary speaker and a veteran moderate.

"I want the Israelis to work for peace, not by the logic of power and force. No, (rather) by the logic of wisdom and co-existence.

"If this is available, I can go for peace. Because, if I can have the support of my people because there are some changes on the ground, if I can have the support of President Arafat who is (now) under siege, if I have the guaranteed support of the (international peacemaking) Quartet, then things will move."

Abbas blamed his resignation mainly on Israeli air strikes, raids and blockades which hindered his ability to swing Arafat and public opinion behind steps that would make peacemaking possible. He also said Washington had not given him enough support by pressing Israel to restrain its forces.

Korei, 65, is a longtime associate of Arafat and co-author of interim peace deals with Israel in 1993.

He has had generally civil relations with Israel. But the Israeli government said after Abbas resigned that it would not deal with any successor "doing the bidding" of Arafat.

Korei has had a flurry of meetings, including with Arafat, leaders of Arafat's Fatah faction, parliamentarians and U.S. Consul-General Jeffrey Feltman.

In the West Bank city of Hebron, three Palestinians were killed, including an 11-year-old boy, during a gunbattle between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants holed up in a building, nearby Palestinian residents said.

The boy was struck by shrapnel as he watched the shootout from a nearby balcony, relatives and doctors said.

Well, today's suicide bombing shows us what the 'Palestinian DIctate' looks like. There is no peace process. Anyone who thinks there is one is deluding themselves. The Palestinians started this war and the IDF now has to finish it.

Arrest the terrorists, confiscate all unregistered mortars and you can have a state. You could have had a state by December if you had been able to resist mass murder for only 6 months. But I guess that is raising the bar too high for Arab Moslems.

2 posted on 09/09/2003 9:29:33 AM PDT by American in Israel (A wise man's heart directs him to the right, but the foolish mans heart directs him toward the left.)

The boy was struck by shrapnel as he watched the shootout from a nearby balcony

Well, that was a Darwin moment.

Have you noticed that the AP and Reuters photo feeds have about a 10/1 ratio of Palestinian, frequently posed photo-ops compared to photos of Israelis?

Oh, Reuters and AP bias is obvious, as is CNN, ABC, NBC, and NPR. BBC is the most blatant of a non-Arab source.

4 posted on 09/09/2003 9:38:24 AM PDT by anotherview ("Ignorance is the choice not to know" -Klaus Schulze)

Ahmed Korei, nominated to be the next Palestinian prime minister, said on Tuesday he would not take the job if he faced the same "Israeli dictate" of military crackdowns that undermined his predecessor.

Oh, well, never mind then.

darwinian?

cant be.. the islam-facists are the same pigs they have been for over 1 thousand years.. no evolution allowed...

Israeli Dictate?

How about this- How can you expect to run a country, or autonomous area or whatever it is the PA does (?) when you have criminal militias running around not only killing innocent Israelis, but also killing and terrorizing Palestinians as well ?

How about a little law and order, regardless of what the Israelis are doing?

It is too bad the PA is run like some kind of Arab mafia.

After reading this tripe its just a shame there is not a few other "stray" pieces of shrapnel left over on a pre- determined flight path. Looks like the IDF has a new target acquisition to dial up!

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