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Palestinians Will Boycott Powell If He Shuns Arafat: Erakat
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Palestinians will boycott Powell if he does not meet Arafat
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JERICHO, April 6 (News Agencies) - The Palestinian leadership will boycott U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell if he refuses to meet with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on his Mideast trip, top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Saturday.
Speaking to Qatari-based Al Jazeera Sattelite channel, Erakat said that "the lack of a meeting between Mr. Powell and President Arafat means that he (Powell) will not meet with any Palestinian leader."
"No Palestinian leader will meet with him, so he will have doomed his tour to failure before it even begins," Erakat said, speaking from the West Bank town of Jericho.
Powell is set to leave Sunday for the Middle East on a mission aimed at securing a cease-fire and persuading Israel to pull out its troops from Palestinian territories, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The trip was hastily arranged after President George W. Bush announced Thursday his decision to dispatch Powell in an effort to quell the conflict, which is threatening to engulf the entire region.
Powell said he had no plans for the moment to meet with Arafat, who held talks Friday with U.S. special envoy Anthony Zinni.
Bush for his part said in an interview Friday that "My worry is that Yasser Arafat can't perform."
Arafat and a group of his closest associates remain holed up in a Palestinian Authority compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, which has been surrounded by Israeli troops. But the
Secretary of State did not rule out a meeting with Arafat in the future.
Despite his threats, Erakat expressed confidence that Powell would meet with the Arafat on this trip because "he knows very well that President Arafat is the address of the Palestinian people and that he is the key" to any solution to the 18-month-old conflict.
On Saturday, Israel kept up its deadly military blitz in the West Bank, in defiance of pressure from Washington, on the eve of Powell’s trip.
Four Palestinians, including an eight-year-old boy, were killed by Israeli fire in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank town of Nablus early Saturday, Palestinian hospital sources said. Seven Palestinians were also wounded in the incident in the Askar refugee camp, the sources said.
The overnight deaths followed one of the deadliest days in more than 18 months.
Israeli strikes killed at least 24 Palestinians, on Friday despite pressure from U.S. President George W. Bush for Israel to halt its military offensive in the West Bank and withdraw its troops.
Israeli officials shrugged off Bush's call, made in a speech broadcast worldwide on Thursday amid global outrage over a siege that has seen Israel retake six of eight major Palestinian towns.
"Bush definitely asked for a withdrawal, but he did not say 'immediate' withdrawal," Israeli spokesman Gideon Meir said. He vowed any pullback would come "after having cleaned up the nest of terrorists".
In the biggest military strike on Friday, helicopter gunships unleashed a hail of missiles on a building in the West Bank village of Tubas, killing six members of the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas inside, a Palestinian official said.
Among them was Qais Idwan, a top chief in the Hamas armed wing, the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades.
In a separate incident Friday, Israeli occupation troops threw five stun grenades at a group of 40 journalists in front of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's besieged headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
No injuries were reported in the incident, which came as the journalists pulled up to cover Arafat's scheduled meeting with US peace envoy Anthony Zinni.
Later, Palestinian sources reported that the Israeli army had cut off the electricity supply to Arafat's besieged offices in the West Bank town overnight.
Elsewhere, explosions and gunfire were heard coming from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Palestinian gunmen, holed up for a third day, ignored calls from the Israeli occupation army besieging the compound to come out.
Early Saturday, Israeli tanks and troops moved early into the autonomous Palestinian village of Qabatiya in the northern West Bank, Palestinian security sources said.
Few other details were available on the fighting in Qabatiya, located about 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Jenin where heavy fighting has raged since the Israelis enter it early Monday.
The Palestinian sources said earlier that Israeli forces backed by tanks had moved into the autonomous town of Yatta in the southern West Bank.
In Yatta, two Palestinians were killed and seven wounded as the tanks fought their way towards the center of the town, exchanging fire with Palestinian forces while Israeli helicopters flew overhead, Palestinian security sources said.
The two Palestinians killed were identified as Jamal Marich, 27, and Nader al-Khadar, 21. Yatta is about 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Hebron, one of the two major towns on the West Bank still in Palestinian hands after an eight-day-old Israeli offensive. Jericho is the other.
In another development, France’s foreign ministry lodged an official complaint with Israel Friday after Israeli forces opened fire on a "diplomatic convoy" evacuating 60 EU citizens from a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank, reported AFP.
"Israeli tanks launched machine-gun fire at the vehicles in the convoy in the middle of the road as passengers boarded as part of an evacuation operation conducted in coordination with the Israeli army" from the Dheishe refugee camp near Bethlehem, the ministry said in a statement.
"Following the shooting by Israeli soldiers, in which a French television crew came under fire, we have lodged a protest with the Israeli authorities and we reiterate to them our demand that the security of journalist teams in the area be assured," the ministry added.
Earlier the EU citizens involved were described by organizers of the evacuation efforts as pro-Palestinian pacifists, seeking to escape the refugee camp surrounded by Israeli troops.
British, Dutch, French, German, Italian and Swiss activists were said to be among the group, accompanied by diplomats from several countries.
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