Armageddon Watch archives
May. 3, 2002
Arabs refuse to accept cancellation of Jenin mission
By Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS - Arab nations on Thursday refused to accept the scuttling
of a UN mission to probe Israel's military attack on the Jenin refugee
camp.
Palestinian UN observer Nasser al-Kidwa said the Arab group rejected a Security Council draft letter backing Secretary-General Kofi Annan's decision to cancel the mission.
"The main thing is for the Security Council to adopt a position with regard to Israel" for not cooperating with the fact-finding team, he said.
The council abandoned the draft letter, which also harshly criticized Israel's refusal to cooperate, and resumed a closed-door meeting late Thursday while Arab nations met to discuss their next moves.
Annan's announcement Wednesday that he intended to disband the mission on Thursday angered the Arabs, who insisted that the secretary-general persist with the fact-finding effort.
At a council meeting that dragged into the early hours Thursday, the Arabs failed to win enough support for a draft resolution demanding that Israel cooperate with the fact-finding team. Members then agreed to respond to Annan's letter announcing his decision to send the team home from Geneva.
A draft reply, circulated by the current council president, Singapore's UN Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, states that "Members of the Security Council deplore the decision of the government of Israel not to cooperate with the fact-finding team."
It said members were "extremely concerned" that it was "not possible to dispatch the fact-finding team because of the position of the government of Israel."
The letter would have asked Annan to collect all available information about the events at Jenin and produce "as far as possible, an accurate, thorough, balanced and credible report."
But the Arabs rejected it.
"We have a strong disagreement on how harsh the language should be, whether in the resolution or the letter," a US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
May. 1, 2002
MIDEAST NOTES: Egypt ready to wage war on Israel... for
$100 billion
Translated from the Arabic by Shira Gutgold - from Jerusalem Post.com
http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1020146450098
Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Obeid said his country would go to war with
Israel if Arab countries stumped up $100 billion to pay for the confrontation.
"If you want to undertake an action and be ready to face up to challenges,
you need at least $100 billion," Obeid told the Abu Dhabi government's
Al-Ittihad newspaper, when asked why Egypt had taken no measures against
Israel's military offensive against the Palestinians.
"I told you we want $100 billion," Obeid repeated in response
to the question of why Cairo had not expelled Israel's ambassador to Egypt.
"Let the Arab world give $100 billion from Arab funds deposited around
the world. Let it say to Egypt: 'This is a budget for confrontation. This
budget is at your disposal. Undertake confrontation.' "
(Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates, April 25)
Apr. 30, 2002
Pope sending envoy over Bethlehem standoff
By The Associated Press - from ther Jerusalem Post.com
VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II is sending a high-ranking envoy to Jerusalem
on a special mission, a Vatican spokesman said today.
The mission was prompted by the pontiff's "desire for peace in the Holy Land and his concern for the Christian community and the Israeli and Palestinian peoples," spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said, without elaborating.
The papal envoy, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, was leaving Wednesday, he said, without elaborating.
Fides, the news service of the Vatican's missionary arm, said Etchegaray's mission would focus on the standoff at the Church of the Nativity.
Palestinian gunmen have been holed up inside the church compound since April 2; Israeli troops surround it.
(Israeli)PM 'postpones' cooperation with UN fact-finders
By Herb Keinon and Nina Gilbert - The Jerusalem Post
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/04/24/News/News.47621.html
In a surprise turnaround, Israel decided last night to "postpone"
its agreement to cooperate with the UN fact-finding mission, with one
diplomatic official saying Israel was afraid of being "set-up."
The decision was made after consultations Prime Minister Ariel Sharon held in his office with Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and representatives from the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Ministry who are preparing Israel's case.
According to a senior diplomatic official, Israel received intelligence information the Palestinian Authority was busy setting the stage in Jenin to "cook up" evidence for the fact-finding committee "proving" a massacre had taken place.
Israel, furthermore, received no assurances its representatives would be allowed into the camp to present their arguments.
The official reason for the decision was that UN General-Secretary Kofi Annan had changed the fact-finding mission's terms of reference from strictly fact-finding to something more expansive.
Israel is concerned, the official said, the committee will go beyond investigating what happened in Jenin to a wider probe that Israel never agreed to, and which could lead to a recommendation to Annan to set up an investigative committee or to dispatch of international observers.
"The composition of the committee was done without our consultation or agreement," the official said. "We are a sovereign country and don't have to accept these types of dictates."
Israel, according to this official, is also unhappy three of the four members of the committee are political officials, not military officers able to go to a battlefield and - in a detached manner - discern what happened.
"It is better for us to suffer a few bad days of publicity now, rather than have to live with the consequences of a biased report later on," the official said.
Earlier in the day, Sharon told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee he would accept the fact-finding committee because it was the "lesser of evils." He said the US made it clear it would not veto a Security Council resolution for a commission of inquiry, and that the fact-finding mission was preferable to such a commission.
Foreign Ministry legal adviser Alan Baker, one of the members of the team, said earlier in the day that although Israel expected to be consulted before the committee was appointed, it did not object to the fact-finders.
"All the members of the team are respected professionals who have a proven track record in the international community," Baker said. "We trust their objectivity and professionalism."
Baker vehemently denied reports that one of the members of the team, former president of the International Committee of the Red Cross Cornelio Sommaruga, is anti-Israel or anti-Semitic.
Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer wrote an article two years ago on the controversy regarding keeping Magen David Adom out of the ICRC because the Star of David is not a recognized symbol. Krauthammer quoted Sommaruga as saying, "If we're going to have the Shield of David, why would we not have to accept the swastika?"
Baker, who was present at the time of the remarks, said that using this comment to allegedly show an anti-Jewish bias on Sommaruga's part "is a vile manipulation of something said in a different context."
"I know the context because I was there," Baker said. "When we were talking about adding additional emblems in the Red Cross movement, Sommaruga remembered that the old historic Indian symbol of the swastika, before it was used by the Nazis, was proposed as a humanitarian red cross symbol. To take it out of context as something he said - in an anti-Semitic context - is vile, manipulative, and destructive."
Mordechai Yedid, the Foreign Ministry's deputy director-general in charge of UN and international organizations, said Sommaruga was behind a compromise that would have allowed Israel to join the organization in 2000 - but that meeting was postponed after the current violence broke out, and has not yet been rescheduled.
At the same time, other diplomatic officials said Israel's relations with the ICRC hit an all-time low when Sommaruga was its head - largely over allegations of torture of security prisoners. These relations improved, however, after a meeting Sommaruga had with then-Shin Bet head Ami Ayalon.
One of the other members of the fact-finding committee, Sadako Ogata, the former UN high commissioner for refugees, received an honorary doctorate from Ben-Gurion University two years ago.
In her speech, Ogata said: "Israel is a country rooted in history's worst tragedies of forced human displacement, and millions of refugees owe their tragic plights to the Holocaust. The Jewish people have behind them hundreds of years of persecution, flight, and exile. On the other hand, not only economic migrants, but also refugees have built this country and refugees of Jewish origin have made enormous contributions everywhere."
Regarding former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, one diplomatic official said he is of the old school European social democrats. The official said Ahtisaari has demonstrated an understanding of the complexity of the situation here, although he could not be called a "friend" or "supporter" of Israel.
Annan yesterday upgraded the status of US Army Gen. William Nash from adviser to a full member of the staff, a move that pleased Jerusalem. "We wanted an American military man on the committee," Baker said. "And now we have one."
A number of MKs took Sharon to task for initially agreeing to the establishment of the fact-finding committee.
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman David Magen (Center) said the results of the inquiry can already be predicted and they "won't be complementary to Israel."
Minister-without-Portfolio and National Religious Party leader Effi Eitam, a former brigadier-general, said yesterday in a faction meeting that IDF drones had filmed all of the activities during the operation in Jenin.
He said it would be better to hand over the tapes to the UN than to allow soldiers who participated in the operation to testify before the inquiry.
One official presenting Israel's case said the staff is considering whether to use the film from the drones, basing their decision on whether the resolution of the pictures is of a high-enough level.
Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu also came out against the committee, telling Israel Radio it "will produce results that will harm Israel. It is completely illegitimate."
"The UN has proven its bias by its failure to examine an endless number of terror attacks against Israel," Netanyahu said from the US, where he is on a mission to enlist support for Israel.
He also said the UN had withheld information and misled Israel about
the abduction of three soldiers by Hizbullah.
Annan refuses Israel's demand to delay UN team
By Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press - From Jerusalem Post.com
UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday refused Israel's
demand to delay and change a UN fact-finding team that will probe Israel's
assault on the Jenin refugee camp and told its members to arrive in the
Middle East by Saturday.
The UN Security Council held emergency consultations Tuesday night after Israel sought a delay, saying it wanted more military and counter-terrorism experts added to the three-member team and also wanted the group to investigate Palestinian terrorist activities in the camp.
At the end of a nearly two-hour meeting, the council issued a statement saying it expects "fast implementation" of a resolution adopted last Friday welcoming the fact-finding mission and Israel's "full cooperation" with the secretary-general and the team.
While the council was holding consultations, Israel's UN Ambassador Yehuda Lancry met Annan in his 38th floor office at UN headquarters to ask for changes in the team's composition and its scope of action, which Israel wants limited only to Jenin itself.
An Israeli official in Jerusalem charged that the team was chosen by Annan without consulting Israel, as had been agreed, and the members were political, not from a military background as Israel had requested.
A Western diplomat said Israel wants to negotiate terms for the team's activities in Palestinian areas, and wants one member removed, Cornelio Sommaruga, former president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
But Annan would not discuss his choice of team members, though he did not rule out adding additional experts if necessary, a statement from the UN spokesman said.
Annan said the mandate of the team was the council's resolution which he wouldn't change. It also expresses concern at "the dire humanitarian situation of the Palestinian civilian population," especially in Jenin.
Israel asked to send representatives to brief UN officials "to make sure that the government's point of view was understood," and they are expected to arrive on Thursday, the statement said.
The secretary-general agreed to briefly postpone the departure of the fact-finding team to allow those consultations.
But Finnish Prime Minister Martti Ahtisaari, the team leader, was going ahead with his scheduled flight to Geneva on Tuesday night, and plans to hook up with other members there on Wednesday.
Ahtisaari said Tuesday morning that he was expecting to be in the Middle
East by the end of the week, and the statement said Annan expects the
team to be there by Saturday.
Iran urges Chinese intervention in ME conflict
By Ali Akbar Dareini, The Associated Press - From Jerusalem Post.com
TEHRAN, Iran - President Mohammad Khatami urged his Chinese counterpart,
Jiang Zemin, to intervene in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Saturday
and stop the "crimes," Iranian state radio reported.
The appeal came during Khatami's meeting with Jiang, who is making the first visit to Iran by a Chinese head of state since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
"A tragedy is taking place in the occupied (Palestinian) territories," Tehran radio quoted Khatami as saying about Israel's military offensive on the West Bank. "China ... can play a leading role in stopping the crimes."
Jiang said China supported Palestinian rights as defined by U.N. resolutions, the radio reported.
"We are opposed to domination and support settlement of disputes through peaceful negotiations ... We have always supported the just demands of all Arabs, including Palestinians, for the right to territorial integrity," the radio quoted Jiang as saying.
Jiang's visit is seen as an attempt by China and Iran to upgrade their relations at a time when they are concerned about the growing U.S. influence in Asia and the plight of the Palestinians.
Iranian and Chinese government officials signed six agreements Saturday on co-operation in the fields of energy, petrochemicals, commerce, transportation, information technology and culture.
Jiang, who is due to meet Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday, arrived in the Iranian capital late Friday after touring the 2,500-year-old ruins of Persepolis, the capital of ancient Persia, about 850 kilometers (510 miles) south of Tehran.
Behzad Shahandeh, a Tehran University professor and expert on southeast Asia, said the visit was "a turning point" in Sino-Iranian ties as it comes less than three months after U.S. President George W. Bush said that Iran, North Korea and Iraq formed an "axis of evil" seeking weapons of mass destruction. Iran denies the charge.
Shahandeh said Jiang's visit to Persepolis indicated the "significance the two great civilizations of Iran and China attach to their historic and cultural affinities."
"The two Asian giants share a lot to oppose the United States. Both are opposed to a unipolar world and are critical of the United States using human rights as a political weapon against them. Iran has also a lot to learn from economic reforms in China," Shahandeh said.
The Chinese ambassador to Iran, Sun Bi Gan, indicated China shares several of Iran's views on foreign policy.
"China supports a multi-polar world, is critical of Israeli killings and believes peace in the Middle East will not be achieved without materialization of the rights of Palestinians, including withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied territories," Sun told Iranian television on Friday.
In addition, both states have expressed concern about the rise of U.S. influence in central Asia after Washington's successful intervention in the Afghanistan civil war last year.
Jiang, heading a delegation of 180 government and business officials, is finishing a trip that has taken him to Libya, Nigeria, Germany and Tunisia.
The trade volume between Iran and China is worth $3.3 billion a year, Iranian government officials said.
UN calls for 'robust' armed int'l force in territories
By Edith M. Lederer, The Associated Press - from the Jerusalem Post.com
UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed Thursday for a "robust" armed international force to halt the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict but Israel said no and the United States said any Mideast solution must have the support of both parties.
Annan told the UN Security Council that a multinational force large enough to take "decisive action" is essential to halt the deadly cycle of attacks and reprisals by Israelis and Palestinians and restore security.
The Palestinians have been agitating for international observers since the latest upsurge in violence began over 18 months ago, and the Palestinian UN observer, Nasser Al-Kidwa, urged the council to quickly adopt Annan's proposal.
But Israel has resisted, agreeing only to accept a small number of US observers to monitor a cease-fire. Immediately after Annan's speech, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said: "Israel cannot accept international forces here."
Elaborating on a proposal he made last Friday, Annan told the council an international force was in the interests of both parties and he urged Israel and the Palestinians to cooperate with it.
For Israel, he said, a force would help stop suicide bombings and place "an international spotlight on any extremist Palestinian groups that try to undermine a cease-fire by continuing to engage in terrorism."
Israel's Deputy UN Ambassador Aaron Jacob disagreed.
"An international force will not bring about an end to violence and terror. It might even aggravate the situation. On the one hand, it would not prevent terrorist attacks perpetrated from Palestinian territory. It would not prevent suicide bombings. On the other hand, it might become a hindrance to our efforts to root out terrorism," he said.
The multinational force Annan envisioned would be put together by countries willing to supply troops and have "a robust mandate." Even though it would not be a UN force, Annan said the Security Council should authorize its operation under the UN Charter.
Annan told reporters he "was encouraged by the response" to his proposal. The United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia have been working together to try to find a solution, he said, and "I expect the United States to play an important role."
US Ambassador John Negroponte, noting that Secretary of State Colin Powell had just returned from the Mideast and the National Security Council was meeting on Mideast policy, said it was "inappropriate" for him to comment. But he reiterated the US position that "any arrangement of this kind would have to be with the mutual consent of the parties most affected."
Annan's proposal won support from most of the 30 nations whose envoys spoke at an open council meeting on a new Arab-backed resolution which the United States opposes. The meeting will continue today (Friday) when a vote is expected.
The resolution demands an immediate Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian cities, an end to the siege of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and a UN investigation into the deaths and destruction in the Jenin refugee camp.
Britain circulated a rival resolution that calls for implementation of three recent Mideast resolutions, demands humanitarian access to Palestinian civilians, and asks Annan to establish an independent commission to investigate events in the Jenin refugee camp.
Saudi FM to Go to Moscow for Mideast Talks
Apr 18 2002
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=4/18/02&Cat=2&Num=002
RIYADH -- Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal will fly to Moscow on
Thursday for two days of talks on the Middle East crisis and the "massacre"
of Palestinians, the official SPA news agency reported Thursday.
He will review with President Vladimir Putin and Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov, "The efforts made internationally and by the Arabs to halt the (Israeli) aggression against the Palestinian people," said Riyadh's Ambassador to Moscow, Mohammed Abdul Wali.
"Stopping the butchery of Palestinians by Israeli forces and lifting the military blockade (on the West Bank) are matters of urgency for the United States and Russia, the co-sponsors of the peace process," the envoy told the Saudi Press Agency.
In Moscow, Interfax news agency quoted diplomatic sources as saying Prince Faisal would also meet Energy Minister Igor Yusufov and discuss Iraq, which has stopped exporting oil in protest at the plight of Palestinians.
The trip comes before Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz meets U.S. President George W. Bush in Texas on April 25, AFP reported.
Arab leaders endorsed at the end of March a peace plan promoted by Saudi Arabia offering Israel normalization with the Arab world in exchange for a full withdrawal from land occupied in 1967.
The plan was welcomed in Russia and the United States but Israel launched
an offensive on the West Bank on March 29 after a series of Palestinian
suicide bombings.
Annan briefs Security Council on concept of multinational
force in Middle East
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=3420&Cr=palestin&Cr1=annan
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
18 April – Expanding on the concept of a multinational force he had
floated last week in response to the spiralling Middle East violence,
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today told a private meeting
of the Security Council that the latest tragic developments in the region
gave additional urgency to the consideration of his idea and outlined
the goals, nature and functions of such a force.
"The force must be impartial and capable of taking decisive action," Mr. Annan told the closed-door session of the Council, according to a copy of his remarks made available to the press. "It must have a robust mandate, credible strength and be large enough to carry it out."
The Secretary-General stressed that he contemplated not a United Nations contingent, but rather "a multinational force formed by a coalition of the willing" that was authorized by the Council under the UN Charter's Chapter VII, which provides for the use of force.
Such an operation would not be risk-free, he added. "However, the situation is so dangerous, that the international community has an obligation to provide this assistance."
According to Mr. Annan, the force would have four key objectives. Firstly, it would work with the parties to end the violence, in part through monitoring the withdrawal and redeployment of Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) to positions held before 28 September 2000, in accordance with a plan put forward by CIA Director George Tenet.
The second goal would be to gradually create secure conditions in the occupied territories for the resumption of normal economic activity and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian and development assistance. The force, working with the international donor community, would also create conditions to allow the Palestinian Authority to rebuild its institutions, including those dealing with law and order, which have been damaged or destroyed in the current military campaign.
Finally, the multinational force would work to create a stable environment to permit the resumption of negotiations aimed at achieving a political settlement.
"It is time for the international community to pursue such an option in a pro-active way, rather than waiting for the parties to arrive at this conclusion on their own," Mr. Annan said. "A multinational force is essential to a gradual restoration of trust between the two sides, which is so vital if further steps toward a broad framework for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace are to be taken."
Before briefing the Council on the force, the Secretary-General told
the 15-member body that he was deeply disturbed by the information he
had just received from Terje Roed-Larsen, his Special Coordinator for
the Middle East Peace Process, and Peter Hansen, the head of the UN Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), who
had visited the Jenin refugee camp today and described the situation there
as "horrific."
Also see Revelation 16:13-16; 19:19-21 - Historicism.com
Vatican launches war against Israeli crimes
Palestine-Vatican, Politics, 4/15/2002
From ArabicNews.com
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020415/2002041563.html
The Vatican launched a semi-official warfare against Israel terming its re-occupation of Palestinian territories as genocide against the Palestinian people, due to which the international community must intervene.
This is, of course, an unprecedented accusation leveled by the Vatican to Israel whose Politica1 significance prompts other western parties to oppose Israeli policies.
In its official Gazette, the Vatican stressed that the genocide against the Palestinians has got nothing to do with allegations by Israel that its war is against terrorism.
It added that this war aimed at preventing Palestinians from realizing their dream of establishing their independent state. It stressed that the current war against Palestinians lacked all forms of international legitimacy.
Commenting on this war, the Vatican says that the current war, waged by Israel in collaboration with the Americans against Muslim Palestinian people, is not "religiously blessed".
Rather it is condemned by all Catholic Church archbishops in the world. The Vatican urged all Catholics in the world to unify ranks to condemn the religiously unlawful war against Palestinians.
Getting out to the diplomatic chess board, the Vatican recalled the American and Israeli ambassadors informing them that Pope John Paul II rejected calling the current war against Palestinians as anti-terrorism war.
The Pope urged Israel to withdraw immediately from the occupied territories and urged the Americans to stop their support to Israel, through public recall of the two ambassadors, the Vatican said that all Christians in the World particularly the Catholics support the Palestinian people.
Thus, it expressed its readiness to establish an international alliance
with Islamic leadership to face up the Israeli-American alliance after
the Europeans had rejected to join them in them aggression against the
Palestinian people or Iraqi people in the future.
Iran calls to stop oil supplies to Israel's allies
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/04/15/LatestNews/LatestNews.47005.html
April 15, 2002
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran today reiterated its call for Muslim oil producers to halt supplies for a month in protest against Israel's actions in the West Bank.
This time the request came from President Mohammad Khatami in a letter to emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, whose country holds the rotating chairmanship of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, state-run Tehran radio reported.
"It is expected that Muslim oil producing countries simultaneously cut oil exports to the main supporters of Israel, at least for a month, to show their serious protest to this tragedy of the century and to pressure other governments to exert pressure on Israel," the radio quoted the letter as saying.
Khatami asked the emir to use all his influence as OIC president to realize such a move.
Earlier this month, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Islamic nations to stop shipping oil for one month to countries with close relations with Israel.
Last week, Iraq said it was halting all oil exports for 30 days or until Israel withdraws from the West Bank. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said if there were no withdrawal, his government would decide what to do at the end of the period.
However, major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have said they are opposed to using oil as a diplomatic weapon.
Oil analysts have said there is so much idle production capacity among producers that cutoffs by only a few nations would not have a significant effect on world supplies.
Tehran radio said Khatami had sent separate messages to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah and the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, urging them to take immediate decisions on supporting Palestinians. The radio gave no details.
Iran is the second biggest oil producer after Saudi Arabia in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
In a related move, Iran's Foreign Ministry called on the United States to impose a UN arms embargo on Israel.
"Under such circumstances, Muslims and the international community
would accept that America is not encouraging (Israel) to commit crimes
in occupied Palestine," ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
Powell: Real danger of conflict spreading to region
By Zeina Karam, The Associated Press
BEIRUT, Lebanon - A defiant Lebanon greeted US Secretary of State Colin
Powell this morning, with protesters shouting for him to leave and the
government saying that cross-border attacks on Israeli troops would go
on.
"There is a very real danger of the situation along the border widening the conflict throughout the region," Powell told reporters after talks with President Emile Lahoud. "It is essential for all those who are committed to peace to act immediately to stop aggressive actions along the entire border."
Lahoud replied that Israel bore the responsibility for the flare-up in fighting because it has failed to withdraw from occupied Arab territory, Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud told a joint press conference.
Earlier, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said his government would tell Powell that cross-border attacks against Israel were likely to continue.
To read more about Aridi's comments, click here.
Thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians demonstrated on the airport highway as Powell arrived, burning U.S. and Israeli flags and shouting: "Allu Akbar!, Powell Out!" and "Death to America! Death to Israel!"
Under heavy security, the secretary of state was whisked to the presidential palace on a different road and did not pass the protest near the Palestinian refugee camp of Bourj el-Barajneh.
In southern Lebanon, about 1,000 Lebanese students demonstrated in the city of Sidon, waving banners that said in Arabic: "Powell, go home."
Some schools closed in the nearby Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh and students marched through the camp, denouncing Israel's two-week-old military offensive in the West Bank.
Powell, who flew on to Damascus from Beirut, was visiting Lebanon and Syria to ask their governments to rein in Hezbollah who has been attacking Israeli troops and civilian communities from south Lebanon on an almost daily basis for the past two weeks. He also met Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Aridi stressed that Lebanon wished to confine the fighting to Shabaa Farms, away from the border with northern Israel.
"There is an Israeli occupation and the resistance is a result of that occupation," he said. "It is the right of the resistance to confront it, specifically as Lebanon is committed to the Chebaa Farms area. (The resistance) did not exceed this framework," he said.
In Damascus, Powell was due to meet Syrian President Bashar Assad. Syria is the main power broker in Lebanon and stations about 20,000 troops in its western neighbor.
News Article by Reuters posted on April 06, 2002 at 17:05:19: EST (-5 GMT)
Sudan opens camps to back Palestinian struggle
KHARTOUM, April 6 (Reuters) - Sudan said on Saturday it had opened military camps across the country to train volunteers prepared to support the Palestinian uprising against Israeli military occupation, Sudanese state television reported.
"The training camps are ready to receive volunteer fighters as from today, Saturday," said the commander of the Popular Defence Force (PDF), Major General Ahmed Abbas.
He called on every Sudanese (see Phut and Cush) capable of taking up arms to join the "holy war" against Israel.
Arab anger has mounted over the past week over Israel's military offensive against Palestinian cities in the West Bank.
Sudan television quoted Abbas as saying that the camps were set up according to a directive by Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Abbas said the paramilitary PDF would continue to mobilise all Sudanese people, including women, to protect the Palestinian people and liberate Jerusalem.
No further details were available on the camps or the mobilisation plans. It was far from clear how Sudanese fighters could ever be deployed to confront Israeli forces directly.
The PDF was founded in November 1989 to help the army crush its main rebel foe, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, in a 19-year-old war that has cost nearly two million lives.
Italics mine - Historicism.com.
Mid-East Crisis: Bush's Speech
April 5, 2002
Following is the text of the speech US President George W. Bush gave yesterday regarding the Mideast:
"Good morning. During the course of one week, the situation in the Middle East has deteriorated dramatically. Last Wednesday, my Special Envoy, Anthony Zinni, reported to me that we were on the verge of a cease-fire agreement that would have spared Palestinian and Israeli lives.
That hope fell away when a terrorist attacked a group of innocent people in a Netanya hotel, killing many men and women in what is a mounting toll of terror.
In the days since, the world has watched with growing concern the horror of bombings and burials and the stark picture of tanks in the street. Across the world, people are grieving for Israelis and Palestinians who have lost their lives.
When an 18-year-old Palestinian girl is induced to blow herself up, and in the process kills a 17-year-old Israeli girl, the future, itself, is dying -- the future of the Palestinian people and the future of the Israeli people. We mourn the dead, and we mourn the damage done to the hope of peace, the hope of Israel's and the Israelis' desire for a Jewish state at peace with its neighbors; the hope of the Palestinian people to build their own independent state.
Terror must be stopped. No nation can negotiate with terrorists. For there is no way to make peace with those whose only goal is death.
This could be a hopeful moment in the Middle East. The proposal of Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, supported by the Arab League, has put a number of countries in the Arab world closer than ever to recognizing Israel's right to exist. The United States is on record supporting the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for a Palestinian state.
Israel has recognized the goal of a Palestinian state. The outlines of a just settlement are clear: two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side, in peace and security.
This can be a time for hope. But it calls for leadership, not for terror. Since September the 11th, I've delivered this message: everyone must choose; you're either with the civilized world, or you're with the terrorists. All in the Middle East also must choose and must move decisively in word and deed against terrorist acts.
The Chairman of the Palestinian Authority has not consistently opposed or confronted terrorists. At Oslo and elsewhere, Chairman Arafat renounced terror as an instrument of his cause, and he agreed to control it. He's not done so.
The situation in which he finds himself today is largely of his own making. He's missed his opportunities, and thereby betrayed the hopes of the people he's supposed to lead. Given his failure, the Israeli government feels it must strike at terrorist networks that are killing its citizens.
Yet, Israel must understand that its response to these recent attacks is only a temporary measure. All parties have their own responsibilities. And all parties owe it to their own people to act.
We all know today's situation runs the risk of aggravating long-term bitterness and undermining relationships that are critical to any hope of peace. I call on the Palestinian people, the Palestinian Authority and our friends in the Arab world to join us in delivering a clear message to terrorists: blowing yourself up does not help the Palestinian cause. To the contrary, suicide bombing missions could well blow up the best and only hope for a Palestinian state.
All states must keep their promise, made in a vote in the United Nations to actively oppose terror in all its forms. No nation can pick and choose its terrorist friends. I call on the Palestinian Authority and all governments in the region to do everything in their power to stop terrorist activities, to disrupt terrorist financing, and to stop inciting violence by glorifying terror in state-owned media, or telling suicide bombers they are martyrs. They're not martyrs. They're murderers. And they undermine the cause of the Palestinian people.
Those governments, like Iraq, that reward parents for the sacrifice of their children are guilty of soliciting murder of the worst kind. All who care about the Palestinian people should join in condemning and acting against groups like Al-Aqsa, Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and all groups which opposed the peace process and seek the destruction of Israel.
The recent Arab League support of Crown Prince Abdullah's initiative for peace is promising, is hopeful, because it acknowledges Israel's right to exist. And it raises the hope of sustained, constructive Arab involvement in the search for peace. This builds on a tradition of visionary leadership, begun by President Sadat and King Hussein, and carried forward by President Mubarak and King Abdullah.
Now, other Arab states must rise to this occasion and accept Israel as a nation and as a neighbor. Peace with Israel is the only avenue to prosperity and success for a new Palestinian state. The Palestinian people deserve peace and an opportunity to better their lives. They need their closest neighbor, Israel, to be an economic partner, not a mortal enemy. They deserve a government that respects human rights and a government that focuses on their needs -- education and health care -- rather than feeding their resentments.
It is not enough for Arab nations to defend the Palestinian cause. They must truly help the Palestinian people by seeking peace and fighting terror and promoting development.
Israel faces hard choices of its own. Its government has supported the creation of a Palestinian state that is not a haven for terrorism. Yet, Israel also must recognize that such a state needs to be politically and economically viable.
Consistent with the Mitchell plan, Israeli settlement activity in occupied territories must stop. And the occupation must end through withdrawal to secure and recognize boundaries consistent with United Nations Resolutions 242 and 338. Ultimately, this approach should be the basis of agreements between Israel and Syria and Israel and Lebanon.
Israel should also show a respect, a respect for and concern about the dignity of the Palestinian people who are and will be their neighbors. It is crucial to distinguish between the terrorists and ordinary Palestinians seeking to provide for their own families.
The Israeli government should be compassionate at checkpoints and border crossings, sparing innocent Palestinians daily humiliation. Israel should take immediate action to ease closures and allow peaceful people to go back to work.
Israel is facing a terrible and serious challenge. For seven days, it has acted to root out terrorist nests. America recognizes Israel's right to defend itself from terror. Yet, to lay the foundations of future peace, I ask Israel to halt incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas and begin the withdrawal from those cities it has recently occupied.
I speak as a committed friend of Israel. I speak out of a concern for its long-term security, a security that will come with a genuine peace. As Israel steps back, responsible Palestinian leaders and Israel's Arab neighbors must step forward and show the world that they are truly on the side of peace. The choice and the burden will be theirs.
The world expects an immediate cease-fire, immediate resumption of security cooperation with Israel against terrorism. An immediate order to crack down on terrorist networks. I expect better leadership, and I expect results.
These are the elements of peace in the Middle East. And now, we must build the road to those goals. Decades of bitter experience teach a clear lesson: progress is impossible when nations emphasize their grievances and ignore their opportunities. Storms of violence cannot go on. Enough is enough.
And to those who would try to use the current crisis as an opportunity to widen the conflict, stay out. Iran's arms shipments and support for terror fuel the fire of conflict in the Middle East. And it must stop. Syria has spoken out against al Qaeda. We expect it to act against Hamas and Hezbollah, as well. It's time for Iran to focus on meeting its own people's aspirations for freedom and for Syria to decide which side of the war against terror it is on.
The world finds itself at a critical moment. This is a conflict that can widen or an opportunity we can seize. And so I've decided to send Secretary of State Powell to the region next week to seek broad international support for the vision I've outlined today. As a step in this process, he will work to implement United Nations Resolution 1402, an immediate and meaningful cease-fire, an end to terror and violence and incitement; withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian cities, including Ramallah; implementation of the already agreed upon Tenet and Mitchell plans, which will lead to a political settlement.
I have no illusions. We have no illusions about the difficulty of the
issues that lie ahead. Yet, our nation's resolve is strong. America is
committed to ending this conflict and beginning an era of peace.
We know this is possible, because in our lifetimes we have seen an end
to conflicts that no one thought could end. We've seen fierce enemies
let go of long histories of strife and anger. America itself counts former
adversaries as trusted friends: Germany and Japan and now Russia.
Conflict is not inevitable. Distrust need not be permanent. Peace is possible when we break free of old patterns and habits of hatred. The violence and grief that troubled the Holy Land have been among the great tragedies of our time. The Middle East has often been left behind in the political and economic advancement of the world. That is the history of the region. But it need not and must not be its fate.
The Middle East could write a new story of trade and development and democracy. And we stand ready to help. Yet, this progress can only come in an atmosphere of peace. And the United States will work for all the children of Abraham to know the benefits of peace.
Thank you very much."
Russian lawmaker: Send international buffer force to ME
From Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com)
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By Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press April, 01 2002
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MOSCOW - A senior Russian lawmaker today called for deployment of an international
peacekeeping force in the Middle East, saying that Israel and the Palestinians
were unable to end the cycle of violence without outside help.
A cease-fire should be forced on Israel and the Palestinians "through a collective ultimatum from Russia, the United States, Europe and levelheaded Arab states," said Vladimir Lukin, a deputy speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament.
"I believe that the world community should form a group of police forces and dispatch it, as a minimum, to separate the conflicting parties, and, as a maximum, to occupy temporarily and partially the Palestinian territory and some parts of Israel," Lukin said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said last week that the deployment of international peacekeepers would be desirable, but added that it was impossible without the consent of Israel, which has opposed the move.
Ivanov's Mideast envoy, Andrei Vdovin, and diplomats from the European Union met with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Monday.
"International intermediaries are doing all they can not to allow the further development of events in a worst-case scenario," Vdovin said, according to ITAR-Tass.
Vdovin said representatives of Russia, the United States, European Union and the United Nations would meet today to discuss a proposal that they meet with Arafat.
"I see no inner resources in either party to solve the problem in the near-future without serious assistance from the world community," said Lukin, who served as Russia's ambassador to the United States in the early 1990s.
Both Israel and the Palestinians "have brought themselves to the point where they are prepared to hold negotiations only from the position of force," Lukin said.