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"Sharon is now destroying the peace process for good, by destroying what remains of the Palestinian Authority and threatening the life of Yasser Arafat"
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CAIRO,
September 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – While Palestinian
Local Minister and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Friday, September
20, that Israel's military aggression is threatening the life of
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, International Cooperation
Minister Nabil Shaath said that international force to separate
Israelis and Palestinians is the only way to curb violence.
"Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is now destroying the peace process for
good, by destroying what remains of the Palestinian Authority and
threatening the life of Yasser Arafat," Erakat was quoted as
saying by Egypt's MENA official news agency.
MENA
said Erakat was speaking to Cairo's Voice of the Arabs which contacted
him in the West Bank town of Ramallah, where the Israeli army has
surrounded Arafat in his headquarters.
Erakat
said the "situation was very dangerous, especially in the
Headquarters".
Erakat
called Friday on the international community to act immediately to end
Israeli aggression, in particular the latest siege around Arafat's
Headquarters, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
"We
ask all the international community, notably the United States, United
Nations, European Union, Russia and Arab countries, to act immediately
to bring an end to Israeli aggression, especially against President
Arafat," Erakat told AFP.
He
said that the siege was "part of the plan of Sharon, who is
aiming to strike Arafat and to completely destroy the peace process.
Israeli
tanks stormed Arafat's compound late Thursday, September 19, following
two Palestinian resistance attacks in the northern Arab-Israeli town
of Umm el-Fahm and Tel Aviv on Wednesday and Thursday, September 18-19
respectively.
The
two martyr operations came after a six-week halt of all Palestinian
resistance operations – six weeks that also witnessed continued
Israeli occupation, aggression and murder and a repeated failure on
the part of hardline Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to resume
peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
Israel's
cabinet decided Thursday unanimously to "isolate" Arafat and
to demand the surrender of some 20 wanted senior Palestinians in the
compound, among them West Bank intelligence Chief Tawfiq Tirawi,
public radio said.
The
cabinet went as far as discussing the expulsion of the Palestinian
President from the Palestinian territories – a question eventually
ruled out after security chiefs warned that such a move would do
Israel more harm than good.
Officials
inside President Arafat's besieged Headquarters said the situation was
extremely tense, amid fears of a repeat of a notorious five-week March
siege.
Meanwhile,
Shaath called Friday for the deployment of an international force to
separate Israelis and Palestinians, saying this was the only way to
curb violence.
"There
won't be a real solution without help from an international force that
would separate the parties, any arrangement that does not provide for
an international force would not end the killing and destruction
cycle," Shaath told reporters in Cairo.
Earlier,
he accused Israel of seeking to "torpedo all the peace
initiatives," in remarks to MENA.
Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel "Sharon's policy consists of escalating the
situation in order to torpedo all peace initiatives, the Arab
initiative, the European initiative and the U.S. initiative," he
said.
He
added that the situation in the Palestinian territories was
"dangerous" after Israeli tanks besieged President Yasser
Arafat's Headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah late Thursday.
Shaath
said Israel killed 85 Palestinian civilians last month, including 34
children, making Palestinian resistance legitimate.
The
Palestinian minister arrived in Cairo after attending the U.N. General
Assembly in New York. He is due to travel later in the day to the
Palestinian territories.
