Posted on 04/11/2002 4:26:13 PM PDT by Henk
Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, embarks on a series of crucial meetings on Friday to end Middle East violence that could lead to the dispatch of a small US force to monitor a ceasefire, diplomats said on Thursday.
As the Israeli army pursued its two-week-old offensive with incursions into two more towns and a refugee camp near Nablus, Mr Powell again warned that the offensive would not end the conflict.
Israeli officials said more than 4,000 people had been detained in the offensive. Relief agencies said several thousand had been left homeless around the Jenin refugee camp, scene of some of the worst fighting between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli forces.
Mr Powell, speaking in Madrid before departing for Jordan and Israel on Thursday, said: "No matter how effective the Israeli defence forces believe they are right now in rooting out terrorism and going after other targets they have set themselves, when it's over there will still be people who are willing to resort to violence and terror."
Mr Powell refrained, however, from reiterating Washington's demands for Israel - so far rejected by Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister - to begin an immediate withdrawal from the West Bank.
The two men spoke by telephone on Thursday and they are due to meet on Friday in Jerusalem. Mr Sharon said the army had pulled out of 22 West Bank villages.
However, troops went into the small towns of Bir Zeit and Dahariya and the refugee camp of Ein Beit Elma on Thursday. A number of students at Bir Zeit University, a strongly nationalist campus north of Ramallah, were among those arrested. The army said 121 of more than 4,000 Palestinians arrested in its two-week sweep through the main West Bank towns were on Israel's most-wanted list.
UNRWA, the United Nations relief agency, said 3,000 people were homeless around Jenin. The army continued to bar entry to the refugee camp there on Thursday.
With Mr Sharon apparently determined to continue the offensive in the face of US and world pressure, Mr Powell was expected to urge him to address underlying aspects of the conflict that would figure in peace talks, such as the future of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories and the fate of Palestinian refugees.
In his Friday meeting with Yassir Arafat - which Mr Sharon opposes but is unlikely to prevent - Mr Powell will urge the Palestinian Authority leader to issue a statement in Arabic to his people condemning terrorism.
While he will again urge Mr Arafat to crack down on terrorism, diplomats said the US recognises that the ability of the Palestinian security forces to act has been crippled by the offensive.
They said the issue of international observers to monitor a ceasefire, which the Palestinians favour but Israel has until now opposed, was bound to be raised.
Mr Sharon might be prepared to accept a small US-only force, but this in itself would be symbolic of international involvement in attempts to solve the conflict, diplomats said.
Gideon Saar, Israeli cabinet secretary, said on Thursday that Israel remained totally opposed to an international observer force.
No way, under no circumstances should we be any kind of monitors in that situation.
So what? The same thing is doubtless true in Afghaninstan, the Phillipines, Pakistan, Iraq and everywhere else we are fighting terror. And no matter how many concessions Israel makes there will still be people who are willing to resort to violence and terror. What is it about the Middle-East that makes a smart guy like Colin Powell say such stupid things?
Yeah, this looks like a reliable source. I'm sure they have a direct pipeline to Washington.
From a combat line soldier's point of view this mission looks like this:
1.Here you are in a hostile combat zone, forward of what would be considered the "Line of Departure" where you cannot identify your enemy from the civilians (because ALL of them are your enemy).
2. You are only given your organic squad weapons for defensive use - not even a heavy machine gun.
3. You have no ability to call for air or artillery support since you are there to "observe" as a stooge for the UN's global agenda.
4. Should you need support such as air or artillery, the HQ who must approve it is miles away and run by some General from another nation who doesn't give a damn if your troops live or not.
5. Any rapid reaction force that could save your ass is too far away to do anything but come and do the job of graves registration.
If you send in US troops, do so in Iraq or Syria or Iran. Do so as an invasion. Do so as to crush an enemy. Don't send our troops to be political pop-up targets for our self-avowed enemy!!
Only use our soldiers to defend this nation's interests - not the interests of the EU or the UN.
There will be no peace, nor any residual cease-fire. Any Americans between Jews and the Paliban will be targets just like Jews. The Koran says so and ten year olds will make it so. The EU will blame American interventionism while Arab leaders continue to talk out of both sides of their mouths.
Israel should make war on terrorists and their accomplice nations so that arabs will remember this Passover War for the next 4,000 years.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.