|
|
|
|
|
|
Resistance Will Stop After Withdrawal, Not Before; Palestinians
 |
|
the rubble of homes destroyed by Israeli forces in the Jenin refugee camp |
RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s success in his peace mission lies with the Israelis, not the Palestinians. The Palestinian legal resistance will not stop unless Israel withdraws its occupation army, said a Palestinian Fatah official Friday.
Speaking to al-Jazeera Satellite Television, Hatim Abdul Qader, member of Fatah’s Higher Committee in Ramallah said, “The Palestinian resistance is much stronger than Israel thinks”.
Qader was speaking after a Palestinian activist blew herself up at Jerusalem's main outdoor market, killing at least six people and wounding other dozens.
“Sharon’s barbaric aggressions and massacres against our people, before the eyes of the whole world, will never grant him any political or even media success,” Qader said.
Commenting on the U.S. administration’s strong condemnation of the latest Palestinian operation in Jerusalem, the Fatah official said, “Powell’s success lies with the Israeli side. Instead of attacking our legal resistance, the Americans should tell Sharon to withdraw his troops out of our villages, cities and refugee camps.
Occupation is terrorism, not legal resistance”.
For his part, U.S. President George W. Bush vowed Friday to push ahead with "every effort" to broker a cease-fire in the Middle East, the White House said.
"This is terrorism, this is murder, this is the targeting of innocents, and the President condemned it," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said, referring to the Jerusalem blast.
The blast was claimed by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a major Palestinian resistance group branded terrorist by the United States.
Bush grew increasingly frustrated by Sharon's defiance of his calls for an Israeli withdrawal, as well as by the failure of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to curb bomb blasts.
Arafat has been holed up in his Ramallah offices, surrounded by Israeli occupation forces, since early December of last year.
Bush made the withdrawal demands last week, reversing his policy of relative disengagement from the Middle East and announcing he was sending Powell to the region. But earlier criticism of Bush's disengagement turned into new criticism that his attempts to end the violence have been ineffective.
"There are clearly people in the region who want to disrupt Secretary Powell's mission. And the President will not be deterred seeking peace despite this attack," Fleischer said.
The spokesman said Powell would still meet with Arafat on Saturday, where he will urge him "to do what he needs to do to stop the violence."
Ignoring the massacres committed and still being committed by the Israeli army in the Palestinian areas, Fleischer said Friday's bombing was "a reminder that the Palestinian Authority needs to renounce violence and terrorism," adding that "Chairman Arafat has not earned the president's trust."
|
|
|
|
