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Israeli Violence Continues Despite Diplomatic Efforts
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| Israeli aggression continues |
UNITED
NATIONS, Feb. 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - As the United Nations debated the
search for ways to calm Israeli-Palestinian bloodletting, Israeli violence in
the region continued.
A
25-year-old Palestinian man being shot dead by Israeli occupation troops at the
Balata refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus. Two other Palestinians
were wounded during the Israeli attack. Israeli tanks have been stationed for several days
at positions near the camp, located in the suburbs of Nablus in the northern
West Bank.
Nine Palestinians have
also been reported wounded when Israeli occupation troops opened fire across the
Gaza Strip.
On
Tuesday, Israeli occupation troops occupied two Palestinian villages in the
central Gaza Strip and imposed a strict curfew on them, Palestinian security
sources said.
In a separate incident, an unidentified Israeli man died
from gunshot wounds suffered in the Atarot industrial zone of occupied east
Jerusalem, Israeli public radio reported. A Palestinian
man was wounded and another Palestinian fled the scene, the radio said.
Moreover,
Israeli occupation soldiers overnight abducted three Palestinians in the West
Bank, the occupation army said Wednesday in a statement, AFP reported. The
occupation army made the arrests during an Israeli military raid on a
Palestinian self-rule area west of Ramallah.
Meanwhile, the United
Nations Security Council has been holding an open debate to air views on how the
international community should act.
There has been some
support for the Saudi peace plan which would see Israel withdraw from the
occupied territories in return for a recognition of its statehood by Arab
nations, BBC’s online news service reported.
Nevertheless, Israel again
declared that it was not prepared to resume negotiations with the Palestinians
until there was a complete and unconditional cessation of resistance operations.
The
U.S. delegate said Security Council action would not resolve the problems
between the Palestinians and Israelis. Instead, John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador
to the United Nations, Tuesday told a formal debate on the Middle East that
Washington is working for a resumption of peace talks.
Negroponte's remarks suggested that the United States would oppose
Palestinian supporters pressing for a Security Council resolution seeking UN
action in the Middle. That could mean a veto if it were to come to a vote. The
Arab League last week called for the meeting to discuss the deteriorating
situation in the region.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned the council the
situation is so bad, "We are nearing the edge of the abyss."
U.S. President George W. Bush will send special envoy, Anthony
Zinni, to the Middle East to seek a resumption of talks "as soon as
conditions are appropriate,"
The Palestinian observer
urged the Security Council to put more pressure on Israel. Marwan Jilani, charge d'affaires of the Palestinian observer
mission to the United Nations, said, "This grave situation threatens to
push the region into total confrontation and war."
Jilani said Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has called for
"a total cessation of all acts of violence" only to be answered by
Israeli Prime Minister Sharon saying he will continue to escalate attacks
against the Palestinians and set up "buffer zones" around Palestinian
cities and villages.
"All of these illegal policies and practices are extremely
dangerous, which aim at breaking the will of the Palestinian people, humiliating
them and destroying their national dignity," the Palestinian representative
said. "This is a depressing situation."
The solution, Jilani said, is based on an end to Israeli occupation
of Palestinian and Arab territories, establishment of an independent Palestinian
state, with east Jerusalem as its capital, "to co-exist in peace and
security with the state of Israel within secure and internationally recognized
borders."
It was as close as anyone came to referring to Saudi Arabia Crown
Prince Abdullah's suggestion in a New York Times opinion page interview a
few weeks ago. In the interview, he said he had been considering a proposal
where Arab states would recognize Israel in return for its withdrawal from lands
occupied since 1967. It since has been widely regarded as having the potential
for a major move in the long conflict.
Last December, the United States vetoed an attempt to establish an
international monitoring force in the region, citing Israel's refusal to accept
it and saying such a force would have to be accepted by all sides before it
could be put in place.
Ambassador Inocencio Aria of Spain, current president of the
European Union, speaking on behalf of the union and its affiliated members,
called on Israel to withdraw its military forces, stop extra-judicial killings,
so-called targeted executions, and lift closures and restrictions imposed on the
Palestinians and their leaders.
"A total freeze must be imposed on settlement activity as an
immediate step," he said. "There must be an end to action against the
installations of the Palestinian Authority and to the destruction of the
Palestinian infrastructure and other facilities which help Palestinians in their
economic, social and humanitarian development."
However, he said the union "is convinced that an impartial
monitoring mechanism would serve the interests of both parties and is prepared
to take an active part."
The E.U.'s foreign policy
chief, Javier Solana, is cutting short the Israeli leg of his tour of a region,
to discuss the Saudi ideas with Prince Abdullah in Jeddah Wednesday.
In another development,
Palestinian and Israeli leaders have resumed security talks. Israeli and
Palestinian officials resumed their security talks in Tel Aviv Tuesday, meeting
for six hours in the presence of U.S. officials. It was the first such meeting
since last Thursday.
Israeli military radio
reported that the two sides had agreed to meet again soon, despite strong
differences of opinion expressed during the talks. The Palestinians suspended
the security meetings Sunday after Israel refused to allow Arafat to leave the
West Bank town of Ramallah, where he has been confined since December.
A source close to Sharon said he could meet top
Palestinian officials - but not Arafat - to discuss a possible ceasefire,
perhaps as early as this week, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
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