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Palestinian Exiles Leave Cyprus For Europe
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Exiled to Europe |
LARNACA,
Cyprus, May 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The first of two
planes taking 12 exiled Palestinian to various European countries left
Cyprus on Wednesday, May 22.
The
Lear Jet aircraft was carrying three of the 12 Palestinians, who are
being taken to Europe under an E.U.-brokered deal that ended the
five-week Israeli army siege of Bethlehem's Nativity Church, reported
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
A
second plane, a Spanish military aircraft, was due to take off with
the remaining militants.
Under
an internationally-brokered deal the Palestinians, considered by
Israel to be hardened terrorists, are to be taken in by Italy and
Spain, which have agreed to host three each, Greece and Ireland which
will each take two and by Portugal and Belgium, which will take one
each.
A
13th Palestinian will remain in Cyprus. The group of 13 men was
flown to Cyprus on a British air force plane almost two weeks ago as
part of a deal brokered by the E.U. and the United States to end the
Israeli army siege of the Bethlehem Church of the Nativity, one of
Christianity's holiest places.
The
men were among a group of 123 Palestinians that the Israeli army
besieged, and released under the deal which saw another 26 resistance
fighters transferred to the Gaza Strip and 84 other Palestinians
freed.
Although
the E.U. had agreed to take them, it had dithered over exactly where
and how to accommodate them, risking the bloc seeing what it regards
as a diplomatic triumph in helping to end the Bethlehem siege spoilt
by the reluctance of member states to host the men.
The
Spanish military transport plane arrived Larnaca airport late Tuesday,
May 21, to fly nine of the militants to their respective destinations.
Yacovos
Papacostas, the head of Cyprus' anti-terrorist unit, said an Italian
jet also arrived in Cyprus on Tuesday to fly out the three
Palestinians slated for exile in Italy.
The
Palestinian Authority representative in Cyprus, Samir Abu Ghazaleh,
later conferred with the Nativity 13 and the Italian ambassador. When
asked by reporters whether the three resistance activists due to be
exiled in Italy would fly separately, he nodded affirmatively.
Abu
Ghazaleh said the 12 are due to leave the island Wednesday at 8:00 am
(0500 GMT).
The
Cypriot government, meanwhile, denied on Tuesday that the 13th
Palestinian was "the worst" of the group and that no country
had agreed to accept him for that reason.
"The
13th Palestinian poses no particular problem, and there is no question
of leaving him here," an official source said. "Negotiations
to find him a new country will take several days."
In
another development, U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday, May
21, that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has "clearly
disappointed" him, and that sweeping Palestinian reforms are
"step one" down the path to Middle East peace.
"I
think peace is possible. It's going to take a while, it's going to
take a lot of work," he said one day before heading on a
week-long trip to Europe, where he has been criticized for allegedly
taking an overly pro-Israel stance.
"That
starts with a security apparatus that actually functions for the
benefit of the Palestinian people, by fighting off terror, by
rejecting extremism," he told a roundtable of European reporters.
A
unified security force, "in which authority and responsibility
are properly aligned," would prove that the Palestinians are
making "a concerted effort to fight terror," he emphasized.
"That's step one."
In
addition to quelling anti-Israeli terror, Bush maintains that Arafat's
Palestinian Authority must also undertake a war on corruption to
ensure that international aid and the benefits of trade reach
suffering Palestinians.
"There's
money willing to be spent," Bush said. "I've committed to
it. But I'm not committed to sending money in a place until I'm
convinced it's going to be spent to help the Palestinian people."
The
U.S. leader had harsh words for Arafat, saying the Palestinian leader
had squandered "chance after chance" for a peace deal that
could pave the way for Bush's vision of a Palestinian state living in
peace with Israel.
The
president said progress requires "a commitment for the United
States to continue to lead on the issue, and we will; a commitment by
the Israelis to make the tough choices necessary for the Palestinian
state to exist; the commitment by the Palestinians to renounce and
fight terror."
It
will also require "the commitment by the Arab world to become
engaged not only in the humanitarian aspects of the region, but to be
a part of the building of the institutions necessary for a Palestinian
state to exist," he said.
Meanwhile,
the Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam said Tuesday that
conditions stipulated by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for
Syrian participation in an eventual Middle East peace conference
"make peace impossible."
"When
Sharon dictates the conditions, that means that peace is impossible in
the midst of international policies that support this executioner and
criminal who is leading Israel toward destruction," Khaddam told
journalists here.
In
a meeting on Monday with the Israeli parliament's foreign affairs and
defense committee, Sharon called for "the end of the Syrian
occupation of Lebanon."
He
called for Syria's "expulsion of the terrorist organizations
present on its territory, as well as of Iranian Revolutionary Guards
present in Lebanon," where Syria is the main power-broker with a
garrison of about 20,000 troops.
Also,
Sharon insisted on a dismantling of Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas and
an end to Syrian support for the resistance movement.
The
prime minister, in his string of demands, called for the deployment of
the Lebanese army up to the border with Israel to prevent guerrilla
attacks and information on Israeli soldiers who have gone missing in
south Lebanon.
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