Qatar-based satellite TV station Al-Jazeera cancelled a planned interview with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, which was due to be broadcast Tuesday night, after Palestinian leaders called on the station not go ahead with the interview.
The Prime Minister's Office said that it called off the interview because of "technical problems and Al-Jazeera's failure to honor its agreement" with Sharon's advisers.
Sharon's media spokesman, Arnon Pearlman, said that Al-Jazeera cancelled the interview because Sharon was not willing to answer questions via speakerphone.
According to Pearlman, the original agreement was that the station's correspondent in Jerusalem would ask the questions, and when Al-Jazeera decided that the channel's anchorman in Qatar would ask the questions, the prime minister's advisers objected, Haaretz reported.
Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo had earlier called on Al-Jazeera to cancel the interview, saying that the Israeli premier is "a terrorist, who continues to commit crimes against the Palestinian people." He also said that he had sent a written request to the station, demanding that they cancel the interview.
Speaking on Israel Radio, MK Ahmed Tibi denied that Al-Jazeera pulled the plug on the interview because of Palestinian and Arab pressure. Tibi said that the prime minister's bureau was to blame for the cancellation, after it presented Al-Jazeera with several preconditions for the interview.
"Al-Jazeera wanted to conduct the interview," said Tibi. "They were in Sharon's bureau and the cameras were ready to roll."
Amid news reports that Sharon would appear in al Jazeera satellite channel to address the Arab summit conference in Beirut, Albawaba.com asked Ali Amer, Head of Palestinian Media Center about the issue.
Amer said, “ we cannot agree with our brothers at al Jazeera for a live interview with Sharon at this particular time. Sharon wants to address the summit and yet puts conditions and obstacles in the way of President Arafat to attend Beirut’s conference. At the same time he tells the Israeli media that Israel is in a state of war and that they should put this issue into consideration in all their interviews, reports and orientation. So we see this media canceling prescheduled programs in response to Sharon. Israel has also its influence and capabilities to control all the world’s media. I do not think this interview is beneficial and for our part we requested our brothers at al Jazeera not to air such an interview in view of Sharon’s aggression, terrorism and war crimes. Sharon should not rewarded for his crimes.”
Truce Talks
The American envoy to the Middle East Anthony Zinni said Tuesday afternoon that the gaps between the Israelis and Palestinians were too wide and therefore there was no point to the two sides reconvening their joint security committee. The next meeting of the committee has been postponed and no new date has been set.
The Palestinians were meeting with Zinni in order to present him with their response to compromise proposals on reaching a cease-fire, in particular on the implementation of the Tenet cease-fire plan.
The committee would have reconvened Tuesday, should there have been any progress in the talks between Zinni and Palestinian officials. Since no compromise was reached, Israeli officials did not join the talks as part of a further attempt to agree on truce terms.
The Palestinian Authority said it wanted a series of clarifications from Zinni before it gave him a final answer.
In a meeting that ran into the early hours of Tuesday morning, the "Zinni forum" convened by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided in principle to accept the envoy's bridging proposal for implementing the Tenet plan.
The forum expressed several reservations.
Zinni's plan, which was presented to the two sides Sunday, contains a compromise between the Israeli demand that the security step contained in Tenet will be implemented over a four-week period and the Palestinian insistence on moving to the implementation of diplomatic steps - contained in the Mitchell Report - within two weeks. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
