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Israel Raids Gaza Strip Town, G8 Discuss Mideast
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G8
foreign ministers say Middle East high on their agenda
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GAZA,
June 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – As G8 foreign ministers
meet in Canada, the Israeli occupation army raided the southern Gaza
Strip town of Rafah early Thursday, June 13, seizing five Palestinians
including an official of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, a
Palestinian security source said.
An
Israeli spokesman confirmed the arrest of Nizar Harazil, as
Israel
accused him of involvement in a resistance attack on a Jewish
settlement.
Elsewhere
in the area sources said three Israeli soldiers and five Palestinians
were wounded in exchanges of fire near the Neve Dkalim settlement,
Agence France-Press (AFP) said.
The
military spokesman said the soldiers were wounded when mortar bombs
fired from an autonomous Palestinian area landed near their position.
Palestinian
medical sources said the Palestinians were hit by Israeli fire.
In
London, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Thursday that
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, publicly disparaged by the United
States, remains the Palestinian leader and “we have to deal with”
him.
U.S.
President George W. Bush said last weekend that he was
“disappointed” in Arafat’s leadership and thought he had “let
the Palestinian people down.”
Later,
speaking after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Bush
said no one had confidence in the emerging Palestinian government.
But
Straw, speaking on BBC radio from a meeting of G8 foreign ministers in
Whistler,
Canada
, said: “We have to deal with the leaders that are there for the
time being. We don’t choose the leaders of other countries. And that
obviously includes Mr. Arafat.”
Meanwhile,
the issue of
Middle East
peace dominates the G8 foreign ministers talks during their meeting in
Canada
on Wednesday, June 12.
The
G8 is the club of leading industrialized nations, made up of
Britain
,
Canada
,
France
,
Germany
,
Italy
,
Japan
, the
United States
and
Russia
.
Canada
pushed fellow G8 members for a firm commitment to the principle of a
Middle East
peace conference, but new anxiety emerged among
U.S.
partners over
Washington
’s policy in the region, AFP said.
As
G8 foreign ministers arrived to
Canada
for two days of talks shielded by tight security amid the ice-capped
peaks of western
Canada
, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell was forced to deny a rift with
the White House on the issue.
But
diplomats from fellow G8 nations confided that they were anxious to
hear Bush’s promised directive on the future shape of U.S. Middle
East peace efforts, following a flurry of meetings with regional
leaders.
Ministers,
setting the agenda for the G8 summit in
Kananaskis
,
Alberta
, later this month, also signaled to
Pakistan
and
India
that there would be no let up in the pace of an international peace
drive.
G8
host, Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham, said he hoped the two-day
meeting would express strong support for a Middle East conference, two
days after Bush dampened hopes it could take place soon, AFP said.
“I
would hope we will come out of this meeting with certainly a
recognition of the need for an international conference,” said
Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham.
“At
least we should be coordinating and supporting one another in ensuring
that we get a political dialogue going to solve the terrible problems
existing there.”
Bush
was asked about the conference during an appearance in which he
expressed strong support for Sharon on Monday. “The conditions
aren’t even there yet. That’s because no one has confidence in the
emerging Palestinian government,” Bush said.
Some
European officials have privately expressed concern over Bush’s
marginalization of Arafat and a senior European diplomat said that G8
members were awaiting for the outcome of a debate in Washington
circles over the future path of Middle East policy, AFP said.
“We
are all waiting for the president to speak,” said another delegate.
A
member of a different delegation called for dates to be set for a
conference: “we want a conference, and we want it soon.”
Security
was tight in and around the luxury hotel hosting the talks but
anti-globalization protests turned out to be subdued.
Meanwhile,
Powell sought Wednesday to clarify that a future “provisional”
Palestinian state should have a territory and institutions even if
they were not perfectly defined, denying there was “distance”
between his position and that of the White House, AFP said.
His
remarks came after he told a London-based, Arabic language daily in an
interview that Bush favored the creation of a “provisional”
Palestinian state, remarks that the White House distanced itself from
while Powell was en route here for a G8 ministerial meeting.
White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer said from Washington that Powell's
comments were merely “reflecting” advice from world leaders, and
that Bush had not signed on to the proposal.
But
on his arrival to Canada, Powell made clear there was “no distance
or space” between what he stated and the official administration
position. “The concept of final political settlement and provisional
interim steps have been part of the dialogue for months,” he said.
Aboard
the plane bringing him here for the two days of talks, the top U.S.
diplomat said further: “If it is going to be a state, it will have
to have some structure ... to have something that looks like
territory, even though it may not be perfectly defined.”
Powell
reiterated that Bush stood by his vision for Middle East peace of
Israel and a Palestinian state living side-by-side.
Powell
said Tuesday, June 11, that Bush would announce steps to advance
Middle East peace efforts “in the very near future” after talks
with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, who will meet with
Bush Thursday ahead of a planned Friday meeting with Powell.
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