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Israel Kills Unarmed Palestinian Activist Amid Tough World Condemnation
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| Palestinian shot by
Israeli police lies in street. |
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, Jan 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli police shot dead an unarmed Palestinian activist Monday after the man smashed through a checkpoint at Qalqiliya, on the northwest border between Israel and the West Bank, knocking down a soldier and speeding into Israel.
Cornered in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, he hit a policeman before being cornered by a police patrol, which shot him dead, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.
The body of the Palestinian driver, covered with a white sheet, lay in the rain in a pool of blood as a crowd of Israelis looked on.
Israeli media reports said that it was possible the man was a car thief, but police spokesman Gil Kleiman told news agencies: "we're looking at it as a terrorist attack."
Israeli government spokesman Arieh Mekel accused Palestinian President Yasser Arafat of doing nothing to halt what he describes as "terror attacks by Palestinians that have become a daily event," news agencies reported.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Monday that Arafat was in an "extremely difficult" situation.
Annan said the 72-year-old president may not even be in control of events in Palestinian-controlled territories, although Israel says Arafat is behind the spike in unrest, turning the violence off and on like a tap according to his tactical needs.
The incident happened the day after the first Palestinian woman activist blew herself up in Jerusalem, killing an Israeli and wounding more than 50.
After a month of relative calm following Arafat's mid-December truce appeal, the region has exploded in a new frenzy of Israeli-led violence.
The new phase of violence has been accompanied by a cooling of ties between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the United States, the main mediator in the region, which has increasingly echoed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's tough line on Arafat.
U.S. President George W. Bush said Friday he was "disappointed" with Arafat, whom he accused of "enhancing terror."
Dick Cheney, U.S. Vice President, went even further on Sunday, for the first time directly implicating Arafat in a recent arms smuggling incident, and questioning the Palestinian leader's commitment to peace.
Asked about Arafat's denial of his involvement in a letter to Bush, Cheney said: "We don't believe him," AFP said.
Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat rejected Monday Cheney's accusation describing it as "unacceptable"
"We reject the latest position of the U.S. administration implicating the Palestinian Authority in the arms cargo affair, it is an unacceptable position," Erakat told AFP.
Meanwhile, the European Union has voiced concern that Israel's frequent incursions into Palestinian self-rule areas and air and tank attacks have caused more than 17 million euros in damage to E.U.-funded project in the region.
The 15 E.U. foreign ministers are expected to meet in Brussels to discuss the escalating tension in the Middle East. The E.U. has also insisted that Arafat is the elected leader of the Palestinian people.
E.U. foreign policy Chief Javier Solana is expected to speak on behalf of the Palestinian President who was banned from attending by Israel.
Sweden openly criticized the U.S. stance towards Arafat.
"I think it is very dangerous if the United States is supportive of the Israeli government and of the confrontation Sharon has tried to use in the latest weeks instead of supporting peace talks," Swedish Foreign Minster Anna Lindh told reporters upon her arrival to Brussels.
"I think the discussion equating Arafat with terrorists lacks objectivity and is stupid. It is a very dangerous policy that merely means you reward Sharon's violence in the Middle East," AFP quoted her as saying.
"The only way to go forward is to continue the peace talks, and if we deny Arafat and deny the Palestinian Authority we just increase the tension in the region," Lindh added.
In the meantime, Saudi Arabia and Jordan expressed "full support" for Arafat during talks Monday in Riyadh between Jordan's King Abdullah II and Saudi leaders.
"There is no interlocutor [with the international community] other than Arafat on the Palestinian issue," Jordanian official told AFP.
Saudi newspapers, meanwhile, lashed out at Washington's perceived one-sided policy in the Middle East and warned the United States against attempts to de-legitimize Arafat and his Palestinian Authority.
"If Washington was genuinely serious about ending the conflict, it would not be trying to
de-legitimize Arafat or the PA," the English-language Arab News said in an editorial Monday.
"It would be announcing to the Israelis that the only way for them to be secure is to end the 35-year-old occupation of Palestinian territory ... [But] the United States has done next to nothing to deter Sharon," the paper read.
The English-language Saudi Gazette said Bush did not appear to be interested in achieving peace in the Middle East.
"The U.S. is denying the Palestinians the right to self-defense while keeping its eyes shut to Israel's genocide of Palestinian civilians ... How can Bush describe the victims as terrorists? America's position is anti-peace," the paper said.
Israel has kept Arafat continued to the West Bank city of Ramallah for about two months and kept encroaching in the supposedly Palestinian-controlled areas. Palestinians, from their side, retaliates for the Israeli violence.
On Sunday, a female Palestinian activist bombed the crowded main shopping street. On Friday, a Palestinian activist blew himself up, wounding 25 in Tel Aviv. Israeli jets fired missiles Friday at Palestinian security targets, wounding two Palestinians in the attack.
At least 822 Palestinian and 249 Israelis have been killed in the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, that began in September 2000 after peace negotiations stalled.
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