Palestinian leaders denounce
civilian killings
White House source says Powell will meet with Arafat April 13, 2002 Posted: 1:05 PM EDT (1705 GMT) |
Israeli troops gather on the outskirts of Jenin on Friday |
RAMALLAH, West Bank --
Palestinian Authority leaders issued a statement Saturday condemning the
killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians, raising the possibility that
a postponed meeting between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and U.S. Secretary
of State Colin Powell would be re-scheduled.
A senior administration official told CNN an announcement will be made shortly that Powell intends to go ahead with the Arafat meeting. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said it was his understanding that the meeting would take place on Sunday at 11 a.m. local time. |
"This is our commitment
to peace, to condemn acts of violence," Erakat said. "This vicious cycle
must really stop. There never will be a military solution to this problem."
Erakat said the statement was issued by both Arafat and the Palestinian
Authority leadership .
The statement was issued in Arabic to reporters in Ramallah, West Bank. Israel and the United States have been demanding an Arabic statement from Arafat renouncing terrorist acts as a starting point toward talks aimed at a cease-fire. "We strongly condemn violent operations that target Israeli civilians, especially the last operation in Jerusalem," the statement said. "We also strongly condemn the massacre and the killing Israel occupation forces have, and are still, committing against Palestinian civilians and refugees in the city of Nablus and the Jenin refugee camp and the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem and other Palestinian territories over the past two weeks." The statement came after Arafat met with the Palestinian negotiating team at his headquarters in Ramallah, where Israeli troops have detained him for two weeks. The statement also came a day after a female Palestinian suicide bomber killed six Israelis, prompting Powell to put Saturday's meeting with Arafat on hold. A senior U.S. official said the Bush administration is examining the statement "We are looking carefully at what he said," the senior administration official told CNN. Danny Ayalon, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, dismissed the Palestinian condemnation saying, "I would say that we are witnessing the continued pattern of committing Palestinian terror and then sending some obscure press releases afterwards. Palestinian words are meaningless without concrete action to stop terrorism." Powell, who met with Sharon on Friday, is trying to bring about a political settlement to the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Sharon and Powell failed to agree on when Israel should end its West Bank military operations that have included sealing off Palestinian towns in an attempt to destroy what it calls "the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure." The Palestinians have said more than 500 died in the operation; the Israelis have said that "hundreds" were killed or wounded. Latest developments
Israeli forces and tanks
on Saturday moved into the West Bank villages of Burqeen and Arabeh on
the outskirts of Jenin, the scene of some of the fiercest fighting. Curfews
were imposed in both areas, sources inside the villages said. The Israeli
military had no comment on either incursion.
Israeli troops entered the
home of Palestinian Health Minister Hassan Asfour Sunday afternoon and
began searching it, said Palestinians who were nearby. They said they saw
Israel Defense Forces troops escort Asfour from his house and take him
away. Also, Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Israeli bulldozers
were flattening the Palestinian Health Ministry. The IDF said it was checking
the report.
Powell met Saturday with
the "Jerusalem Patriarchs," the leaders of the Palestinian Christian community,
in Jerusalem to discuss the humanitarian conditions of Palestinian Christians
in areas such as Bethlehem.
Powell also met with representatives
of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency "to discuss the severe humanitarian problems in
the Palestinian areas, particularly in Jenin, and to express our deep concerns,"
according to State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. "He will continue
to raise our concerns on these issues with the Israeli government," Boucher
said.
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