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Palestinians Condemns U.S. Call To Reassess Relations
GAZA CITY, April 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's top aide, Nabil Abu Rudeina, Saturday condemned a call by U.S. members of Congress for President George W. Bush to "reassess" U.S. relations with the Palestinians.
This call "will have negative effects on the peace process and will destabilize the region," Abu Rudeina told AFP.
Some 300 members of the U.S. Congress called on Bush Thursday to "reassess" relations with the Palestinians, who they hold responsible for the upsurge of violence in the Middle East.
In a letter addressed to the president, the members of Congress suggest cutting off aid to the Palestinians, closing down the office of Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington and banning Palestinians accused of anti-Israeli attacks from entering the United States.
"We call on the U.S. administration not to heed this call, which goes against international law," Abu Rudeina said.
"This attitude is irresponsible and biased. ... We urge the Bush administration to adopt a stance which is balanced and encouraging for the peace process," he added.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon urged Arafat in a rare telephone call Saturday to put an end to six months of violence, as the Palestinian leadership denounced Israeli plans to expand settlement buildings.
Officials said Arafat had called Sharon, along with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and left-wing opposition leader Yossi Sarid, to express best wishes for the Jewish feast of Passover, which began late Saturday.
"Mr. Sharon thanked him and on this occasion reaffirmed that Israel is demanding a complete end to Palestinian terrorist acts," a spokesman for the prime minister said.
The two men, who regularly trade bitter accusations and blame each other for the deadly Israeli-Palestinian conflict, last spoke directly when Arafat called Sharon to congratulate him on his election win on February 6th.
Palestinian officials confirmed Arafat's call to Sharon but declined to give details.
Overnight, the Palestinian leadership issued a statement denouncing Israel's plans to build 708 new Jewish homes in the occupied territories and said settlements "are the most serious form of aggression against the Palestinian people."
"We will continue to defend our land and our lives against Israeli occupation and colonization, which are cancers," said the statement issued after a meeting of Arafat's cabinet.
The Palestinians were reacting to an announcement by the Israeli housing ministry Thursday that it had called for tenders for the construction of 708 new homes in two settlements in the West Bank.
The move was condemned as a provocation by the United States in an unusual blast at Israel, as well as by the European Union, France and the pro-peace lobby in Israel.
"Security and stability cannot be achieved while settlement eats up Palestinian land," the Palestinians charged. "Continued settlement building torpedoes all efforts towards resuming peace negotiations and violates all signed agreements."
The statement called on the members of the international community "who consider settlements to be an illegal and provocative measure and an obstacle to peace, to act within the United Nations Security Council to ensure protection for the Palestinian people."
But Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin said the "biased criticism and the attempts to put pressure on Israel can only encourage Yasser Arafat to continue in the path of terrorism and violence."
"The Europeans would do better to press Yasser Arafat to renounce terrorism in order to restart negotiations," Gissin told AFP, avoiding mentioning the reproof from the United States.
Gissin said the new homes would be built at existing settlements, adding, "We have every right to construct inside the limits of existing implantations to respond to demographic growth."
He also responded to U.S. criticism of an incident last week when Israeli soldiers fired on a Palestinian official convoy heading back from a joint security meeting, saying the Palestinian Authority was responsible and was exploiting it.
"We regret this incident, but it was the direct result of the Palestinian Authority's refusal to fight against terrorism while the security services that are part of it participate themselves in violence," Gissin said.
"Israeli soldiers opened fire toward the convoy only because the Palestinians had earlier fired in their direction from a jeep that was part of the convoy or from a field in the sector," Gissin said.
"We have no intention of hurting Palestinians with whom we intend to engage in a dialogue and cooperation," he said.
In the past 10 days Israeli helicopter gunships have attacked bases of Palestinian security forces, notably in the Gaza Strip, while the Palestinians have hit settlements and other targets with mortar bombs in tit-for-tat actions that show no sign of ending.
In the latest clashes, a member of the elite Force 17 was seriously wounded late Friday in an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers who were destroying a position of the force in Gaza City with bulldozers, hospital sources said.
Witnesses said the army destroyed two installation of Force 17, along with two Palestinian security buildings and two private homes.
The army spokesman said the army destroyed the posts in response to "terrorist attacks against civilians and Israeli soldiers, especially mortar fire on Netzarim."
"The army wants to hit directly at those involved in terrorism and assure the security of civilians and soldiers," he added.
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