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U.N. Security Council Wants Israeli Pullout “Without Delay”
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| "It would
be a miscalculation of monumental proportions to believe that
removing … Arafat … would create conditions where Israel
can achieve security," Annan said.
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NEW
YORK, April 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – The U.N. Security
Council voted 15-0 Thursday, April 4, to demand a full Israeli pullout
from Palestinian towns "without delay", news agencies
reported early Friday.
U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the council before the vote that
Israel's recent actions "do not bode well for stabilizing the
situation and renewing political talks."
"It
would be a miscalculation of monumental proportions to believe that
removing Chairman Arafat from the political scene and dismantling the
Palestinian Authority would create conditions where Israel can achieve
security for itself," Annan said, quoted by CNN.
Annan
warned Israel that "self-defense is not a blank check."
As
for the Palestinians, Annan said, "The Palestinian Authority
seems to believe that failing to act against [what he described as]
terrorism, and inducing turmoil, chaos and instability, will cause the
government and people of Israel to buckle. They will not."
The
U.N. resolution also endorsed Powell's mission to the Middle East.
The
Security Council resolution demand for an Israeli withdrawal from
Palestinian-controlled cities in the West Bank "without
delay" came as the White House said it would send Secretary of
State Colin Powell to the region in a bid to end the conflict.
The
Security Council resolution follows an earlier call on Israel to end
its incursion into six West Bank cities, including Hebron, Bethlehem
and Ramallah, where Israeli tanks and troops have besieged Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat since March 29.
In
Washington, meanwhile, President Bush changed diplomatic course
Thursday to announce he was sending Powell to the Middle East next
week. Bush also urged an Israeli withdrawal, but said Arafat had
"betrayed the hopes" of his people and not consistently
opposed resistance which Bush described as terrorist activity.
Hours
later, the Palestinian president announced he and the Palestinian
leadership were "committed to the statement of President Bush
without conditions."
The
statement was read by phone on CNN by chief Palestinian negotiator
Saeb Erakat.
"We
should not be blamed for facing the Israeli aggression on our people,
our towns and our refugee camps and defending our people," Arafat
said, however.
Ra'anan
Gissin, a senior adviser to far-right Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon, rejected Arafat's statement.
On
another diplomatic front, U.S. special envoy Anthony Zinni met
Thursday with Sharon and will meet Friday, April 5, with Arafat, who
has been besieged at his headquarters in Ramallah, West Bank by
Israeli forces since last week.
Meanwhile,
Israeli occupation soldiers and tanks continued Friday to take over
West Bank towns despite the unanimous Security Council vote.
Seven
Palestinians, six of them resistance activists and one an unarmed
civilian, were killed Friday in pre-dawn clashes with the Israeli
occupation army in Nablus, Palestinian hospital sources said,
according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israeli
forces have met stiff resistance in the city, one of the last major
targets in the army's bloody offensive across the West Bank to crush
the 18-month-old Palestinian Intifada or uprising against Israeli
occupation.
The
civilian, Yasser Elkani, 45, died after being hit by an Israeli bullet
inside his home in the Old City of Nablus, the biggest town on the
West Bank currently encircled and partly overrun by Israeli forces.
Three
Palestinian resistance activists, Rame Darwazi and Nasser Abu Harmeh,
both aged 22, and Soleiman Tahshuh, were killed in a firefight with
Israeli troops, also in the Old City.
The
remaining three, named as Samir Abuleil, Maher Amiri and Raed Hadjeh,
died when they were hit by an Israeli rocket fired from an Israeli
helicopter in the Balata refugee camp on the outskirts of Nablus, AFP
said.
Correspondents
said Israeli forces controlled most of the town except for pockets of
resistance in the Old City, while the three refugee camps were still
holding out.
Since
the beginning of the Intifada in September 2000, at least 1,712 people
have died, among them 1,263 Palestinians and 416 Israelis.
The
toll, however, may be higher, said AFP, as Israeli forces have sealed
off areas in which fighting took place in the last few days.
Four
Palestinians were killed Thursday in Nablus, including a 54-year-old
woman who died in her home after a large blast shook the Old City.
Israeli forces have so far invaded the towns of Nablus, Jenin,
Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Ramallah, and Bethlehem -- as well as a number of
Palestinian-controlled villages. Jericho is the last major West Bank
town still under Palestinian control.
In
Bethlehem, meanwhile, Mayor Hanna Nasser said Thursday that Vatican
representatives were working to bring an end to a three-day-old
Israeli offensive against the Church of the Nativity, where
Palestinian civilians are holed up with the clergy inside. Nasser said
he had spoken with a top Vatican official from Jerusalem who is trying
to negotiate a surrender.
Israeli
troops and tanks have surrounded the church -- a monument to the
birthplace of Jesus Christ -- since Monday, April 1, claiming that
armed fighters were inside and allegedly holding hostages. City
officials and church officials have said no one is being held hostage,
according to CNN.
In
the largest city in the West Bank, Israeli troops have control of most
areas of Nablus, but have not been able to enter three refugee camps
-- Balata, Askar, and Ein -- or the old city area, security sources
said.
Israeli
occupation forces have also arrested 150 civilians in Bethlehem.
Security sources say Israelis have occupied apartment buildings and
ousted residents to set up sniper locations. Hospital sources say many
civilians have been confirmed dead.
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