Arab ministers are doubting the wisdom of US President George W. Bush's decision to avoid meeting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, against the backdrop of the one-year anniversary of Israel's use of death squads to assassinate dozens of Palestinians, said reports.
Bush has refused to meet Arafat at a UN meeting in New York this weekend, in what CNN called a "snub" based on the belief that the Palestinian president is not doing enough to apprehend members of groups it calls terrorist, such as Hizbollah and Hamas.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal, in an interview published in Friday's New York Times, said Bush's failure to commit his personal prestige to seeking a peace settlement "makes a sane man go mad."
"The thing that is so sad is that what is needed to make peace is very little," the Saudi foreign minister said. He added that Bush must establish himself as an "honest broker" and "cannot be an honest broker and only meet with one side."
Besides providing Israel with diplomatic support, the US, which bills itself as an even-handed broker in the peace process, also gives the Jewish state billions of dollars in military and other aid each year.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said later on Friday that Bush and Arafat would ultimately meet, even if it was not over the weekend. "I think in due course, when the time is right, [President] Arafat will have a chance to meet with the president," Powell told Fox News.
"Any sober and rational calculation would reveal that this (a meeting) would not only be helpful to the Palestinians and Israelis. This would definitely be helpful in the total global quest for a more secure and more just world," Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Shaath said on Friday, cited by Reuters.
ISRAELI ASSASSINS MARK YEAR OF KILLINGS
In the shadow of diplomatic developments, the Palestinians marked a year of successful attacks by Israeli death squads.
"Exactly a year has elapsed since Israel first restored extra-judicial killings to its repertoire of military tactics in its efforts to suppress what began as a popular uprising, turning slowly into an armed conflict," reported the UK-based newspaper The Independent on Friday.
News agencies have reported that over 700 Palestinians and more than 190 Israelis have been killed in the latest Palestinian uprising against 34 years of military occupation.
A significant portion of the Palestinian casualties have resulted from what the Israeli government variously refers to as "liquidations," "targeted killings," or "interceptions."
Such assassinations target Palestinian leaders alleged to have taken part in either terrorism against Israeli civilians, or resistance attacks on occupation troops - a distinction the Israeli government does not make.
"They have blown up cars and kitchens. They have fired missiles from combat helicopters hovering several miles away. They have picked off their victims from afar with high-powered snipers' rifles. There are even plausible claims that they – or their collaborators – have planted explosive devices in telephone receivers and car headrests that blow off a man's head in an instant," according to The Independent's report.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who according to the article personally approves all such killings, admitted to 20 to 30 in a recent Newsweek interview. But he has stated in the past that Israel will sometimes deny its undercover operations, and refuse to comment on others.
"There is little doubt the figure is larger," added the report by the British paper. "Statistics collated by the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group show that at least 59 Palestinians have been assassinated in the past year, including 21 passers-by. Even this may be an underestimate."
The international community has repeatedly condemned the killings, saying they are illegal and that, in the long run, they build up more violent resistance to Israel's occupation of Palestinian land.
Sharon took office in a landslide victory, promising to guarantee the security of ordinary Israelis within a short period of time.
However, 14 months into the latest Palestinian uprising, the premier has told his Likud Party inner circle to prepare for a long struggle - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
