Posted on 10/16/2003 7:28:28 AM PDT by ragnarocker
NORWEGIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: Petersen met Arafat, defies the US and Israel Tilrettelagt av Carin Pettersson 15.10.03 11:59
Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen defied the United States and Israel by meeting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah Tuesday.
Foto: REUTERS/HO/Palestinian Authorities/Hussein Hussein (Scanpix)
The US and Israel refuse to have anything to do with the legally elected Palestinian president, but Norway has no plans of cutting the contact with Arafat. The Norwegian foreign minister met with the Palestinian leader for 45 minutes Tuesday.
Two pieces of advice
Petersen gave Arafat two pieces of advice, get the terror under control and get a stable government off the ground.
“The first thing was that it is absolutely necessary to get the terror under control,” Petersen said on the phone with the Norwegian news bureau (NTB) Tuesday night. “The roadmap is clear on some of the things that have to be dealt with, and it is easy to check off.”
“The other point is to get a government up and running, an efficient, permanent government,” Petersen said. “I said I was disappointed by the fact that Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) did not manage to stay in power, and that Abu Ala (Ahmed Qurie) now apparently has problems getting the authorizations he needs. Arafat needs to go in and use his influence to get a positive solution so that we can get a functional government.”
Very serious
Petersen joined the Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath for dinner Tuesday night, and Petersen will meet on Wednesday with Ahmed Quire, the Palestinian prime minister.
“The problem I have experienced both here and in Israel is that they often talk about what the other party should do,” Petersen said, and added that the process was in a “very serious stage.”
The foreign minister does not hide the fact that his meeting with Arafat is controversial, but at the same time he issues a warning.
“It is good reason to warn against an uncritical view of Arafat, something which I think is a little too common,” Petersen said. “There is no doubt that Arafat is a part of the problem, but he is also a part of the solution and that is why it is important to talk to him.”
Norwegian news bureau (NTB)
“The problem I have experienced both here and in Israel is that they often talk about what the other party should do,” Petersen said
Petersen gave Arafat two pieces of advice, get the terror under control and get a stable government off the ground.
Sounds like Petersen is part of the problem.
Owl_Eagle
" WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH"
Arabfat has always had the terror under his control.
That's for certain. Now if he can just control the drooling.
Those colorful and quaint lutefisk inhalers are fine allies. But their governments are kooky-left, PC nonsense-pukers of the first order. Always have been.
The Norwegians, in most respects good and jolly fellows, have a blind spot when it comes to Third World sleazoids. They have invited enough of them to the frozen north to thoroughly pollute the place and probably endanger the reindeer gene pool. In fact, at the risk of igniting intense racial hatreds, IMHO, the Norwegians are worse Third World butt-kissers than the Swedes. And that's going some.
This is not even a condom of protection.
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