 |
|
European officials’ contacts with and sympathy toward Arafat are a waste of time: Ben Eliezer
|
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, October 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – European
Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana arrived Sunday, October 6, in
the Middle East for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, although
in his first meeting, Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer
asked him to boycott Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
In
a meeting with Solana, a regular visitor to the region, Ben-Eliezer
asked for European officials to shun the Palestinian leader, isolated in
his ruined Ramallah headquarters after yet another ten-day Israeli
siege, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
“European
officials’ contacts with Arafat and their messages of sympathy toward
him are a waste of time,” said the Labor party hawk in talks with
Solana, who is scheduled to meet the Palestinian president in Ramallah
on Monday, October 7.
“This
European policy does not help encourage moderate elements in the
Palestinian Authority, inasmuch as Arafat wants the status quo to
continue,” he said.
Israel
and the United States want to see Arafat dropped, or at least sidelined
to a purely ceremonial role.
Israel
accuses him of actively encouraging “terrorism,” while its main
backer Washington says he has done too little to combat constant
anti-Israeli attacks.
Solana
is also due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday.
During
his four-day Mideast tour, Solana will hold talks with Jordanian King
Abdullah II, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Arab league Secretary
General Amr Mussa.
After
a ten day siege the Israeli army had placed on Arafat’s Ramallah
headquarters, the Israeli government decided Sunday, September 29, to
relax the siege but to keep troops in the area to ensure “wanted”
men inside do not escape.
The
decision, taken in a meeting between Sharon, Ben-Eliezer, Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres and chief of staff General Moshe Yaalon, was
prompted by severe pressures laid by Washington on Tel Aviv to implement
U.N. Security Council resolution 1435 stipulating an immediate
withdrawal from Arafat’s compound.
The
Bush Administration dismissed Israel’s continued refusal to conform
until some alleged 20 wanted fighters holed up with Arafat surrender as
damaging to U.S. efforts to muster support for an attack on Iraq.
