Free Republic

<p>Shuneh, , May. 16 (UPI) -- Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for the Middle East William Burns said Sunday Washington recognizes Yasser Arafat as the elected leader of the Palestinians.</p> <p>Speaking to reporters during the World Economic Forum being held in Shuneh, Jordan, Burns said the U.S. administration also recognized the "status" that Arafat enjoyed in the Palestinian territories.</p>

PARIS - French prosecutors opened an inquiry after relatives of Jewish victims of attacks in Israel filed a complaint against Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat accusing him of genocide, judicial sources said on Wednesday. The seven Jewish plaintiffs, who are French but live in Israel, filed their complaint in March 2003, accusing Arafat of masterminding attacks against Jews to back Palestinian demands for an independent state. Their complaint accuses the Palestinian leader of genocide, crimes against humanity, murder and criminal conspiracy. Paris prosecutors, who opened the inquiry on Tuesday, were keeping Arafat out of legal proceedings for now, judicial sources...

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's threats against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat were condemned around the world Saturday ahead of a key Likud party vote on Sharon's plan to quit the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank the Israeli army shot three members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a armed group linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, during a series of operations which have already cost 26 Palestinian lives in four days. US Secretary of State Colin Powell stressed that President George W. Bush was opposed to any attack against Arafat. "The president made it clear that he would oppose any such...