Reverend Jesse Jackson canceled a meeting scheduled for Wednesday with Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin after the group claimed responsibility for the bomb attack at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel Radio reported. It added that the U.S. civil rights leader was actually on his way to the meeting when he heard that Hamas carried out the attack.
The meeting, had it taken place, would not have been well received by Israel, Reuters reported. Sheikh Yassin said Tuesday that he welcomed Jackson's visit, expected to take place at his home in Gaza.
Jackson, on a Middle East peace mission, embraced children in Bethlehem's Manger Square and lit candles in the Church of the Nativity, revered by Christians as Jesus's birthplace and the scene of a stand-off earlier this year between Palestinian fighters and Israeli soldiers.
"President Bush must use the power of the United States...to enforce the U.S. policy and UN policy to seek reconciliation, to try and build statehood, to invest in reconstruction, to end occupation," Jackson said in a speech. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
