Archives

WASHINGTON, Sunday (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who meets with U.S. President George W. Bush this week, reiterated on Sunday that Palestinian attacks must end before there can be serious peace talks to stop the bloodshed in the Middle East.

In an opinion piece in the New York Times on Sunday, Sharon said there were two other conditions for successful negotiations.

In addition to ending suicide bombings, Sharon said the most difficult issues - like the future status of Jerusalem - must be negotiated last and Israel must talk peace with the Arab world as a whole rather than with the Palestinians alone.

Sharon was scheduled to meet on Monday with Bush, who had discussions on Saturday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak told Bush at the presidential retreat at Camp David in Maryland that the violence "will continue forever" unless the Palestinian people "feel that there is hope for peace and there is something to show that peace is coming."

The meeting was the latest round in diplomacy aimed at reviving the Middle East peace process and halting Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli retaliatory raids that have killed at least 1,385 Palestinians and 508 Israelis since September 2000.

Sharon argued that peace talks could not succeed in the midst of violence, like the attacks on Saturday that left seven Palestinians and three Israelis dead.

"Israel must defeat terrorism; it cannot negotiate under fire. Israel has made painful concessions for peace before and will demonstrate diplomatic flexibility to make peace again, but it requires first and foremost a reliable partner for peace," Sharon wrote.

The hard-line Israeli leader accused the Palestinian leadership of lacking an "elementary commitment to permanently renouncing violence in the resolution of political differences."

Sharon also argued that any peace agreement could not be limited to the Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza.

"It is logical that Israel cannot reach a permanent peace with the Palestinians in isolation. Israel needs peace with the entire Arab world. For this reason, Israel has proposed a regional peace conference of like-minded Middle Eastern states that reject terrorism and seek to enhance regional stability," he wrote.

Meanwhile the context of the Israeli leader's visit to the United States has not been simplified as the cycle of violence continues in Israel as well as in the Palestinian territories.

A Palestinian militant was killed by the Israeli army and four Israeli soldiers were wounded early Sunday during an attack on a military position next to the Jewish settlement of Yitzhar south of Nablus in the West Bank, Israeli military sources said.

The US president also said he was "not ready" to commit to a specific timetable for creating a Palestinian state as visiting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has asked.

He insisted that Arafat "must do everything in his power to stop the violence, to stop the attacks on Israel" and repeated that he was "disappointed" in Arafat and his leadership.

Earlier Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa criticised a raft of proposed US steps to stop "terrorists" from entering the United States as discriminatory against Arabs.

"These are discriminatory measures against the citizens of Arab and Islamic countries," Mussa told AFP, vowing the 22-member pan-Arab organisation would convene a study on the matter.

US Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Wednesday that individual visitors deemed to fall into categories of "elevated national security concern" will be required to submit to a three-part immigration exercise, or risk arrest.

Such visitors will be fingerprinted and photographed at the border, be required to register "periodically" if they stay in the United States for 30 days or longer, and be subjected to exit controls.

Mussa emphasised the measures have also raised concern within the United States.

The Arab League also urged Saturday the United Nations to provide international protection for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after more than 20 months of violence.

It "demanded the Security Council furnish international protection for the Palestinian people," in a statement released after a meeting of representatives to the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager