EGYPT: ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY-GENERAL AMR MOUSSA MEETS ARAB LEAGUE PERMANENT DELEGATES TO DISCUSS ESCALATING VIOLENCE IN PALESTINIAN AREAS

Record ID: 222848

  • Title: EGYPT: ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY-GENERAL AMR MOUSSA MEETS ARAB LEAGUE PERMANENT DELEGATES TO DISCUSS ESCALATING VIOLENCE IN PALESTINIAN AREAS
  • Date: 2nd April 2002
  • Summary: (U5) CAIRO, EGYPT (APRIL 2, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. TILT: EXTERIOR OF ARAB LEAGUE BUILDING 0.04 2. VARIOUS: MEETING OF PERMANENT DELEGATES IN THE ARAB LEAGUE WITH AMR MOUSSA (6 SHOTS) 0.33 3. CU: SOUNDBITE (English) NABIL SHAATH PALESTINIAN PLANNING & INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION MINISTER SAYING: "All what the Israelis are doing, they are dismantling the institutions of the Palestinian Authority including keeping its democratically elected leader hostage in Ramallah and threatening to kill or deport him. He is going to fight. He is not going to accept to go, and he is our leader. This is a gross violation of everything that has been done, said of international law and the Geneva Convention. They are shooting on the spot, summary execution of policemen, and taking them with Israeli police forces to their houses. They are doing war crimes that nobody has ever expected - at the sight of this whole world. That is why we are calling on all our Arab brothers to meet tomorrow and to take action. We are calling on our European friends to do the same." 1.29 4. SV'S: SOUNDBITE (English) ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY-GENERAL AMR MOUSSA SAYING: "We heard this news about the possible deportation that the Israeli government is threatening to do and of course it will have its own repercussions and this is part of the authorities of foreign military occupation against the Palestinian people and its leaders and I believe firmly that it will have a lot of effects throughout the Arab world and throughout the world. And let us see what the Israelis will do. We have expected the worst and we have to live up to our responsibilities in view of the developments." (2 SHOTS) 2.35 5. SV: CUTAWAY MEMBERS OF MEDIA 2.40 6. SV: SOUNDBITE (English) ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY-GENERAL AMR MOUSSA SAYING: "We should warn those - both in Israel and anywhere else - who favour this dangerous option. We warn them that it will add to the very fragile, volatile, serious, dangerous situation and we shall definitely live up to meet those decisions that I believe will render the situation impossible." / PULL OUT AMR MOUSSA LEAVES MICROPHONES 3.19 7. MV: STUDENTS DEMONSTRATING AND BURNING THE ISRAELI FLAG 3.29 8. MV: ARMOURED POLICE VEHICLE ARRIVING 3.33 9. LV: FIRE ENGINES SPRAYING WATER 3.40 10. MV: STUDENT WITH STICKS CONFRONT ARMOURED POLICE VEHICLE/ CLOSE UP OF DAMAGE TO WINDSCREEN (2 SHOTS) 3.54 11. WS: CROWD OF CHANTING STUDENTS 4.02 12. LV: STUDENTS IN ARCHWAY THROWING STONES 4.12 13. MV: POLICE BY ARMOURED VEHICLE, WATER CANNON THROWN AT STUDENTS 4.27 14. MV: AMBULANCE ARRIVING 4.36 15. VARIOUS: POLICE FIRING TEARGAS 4.55 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 17th April 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
  • Country: Egypt
  • Reuters ID: LVAD29V4UADHPJHQ4P7SOTCNI4YQ
  • Story Text: Arab league secretary-general Amr Moussa has met
    permanent delegates of the Arab League to discuss the
    escalating violence in the Palestinian areas and to plan for
    Wedneday's (April 3) emergency meeting of Arab League foreign
    ministers.

    The ministerial meeting in Cairo would discuss how to help
    the Palestinian people and coordinate Arab views on Israeli
    actions against the Palestinians.

    About 5,000 students demonstrated for the fifth day in
    front of Cairo University against Israeli attacks on the
    Palestinian people.


    Arab foreign ministers will hold emergency talks in
    Cairo on Wednesday (April 3) over an escalating crisis in the
    region prompted by Israel's invasion of several West Bank
    towns.

    Palestinian Planning and International Co-operation
    Minister Nabil Shaath said the meeting would discuss how to
    help the Palestinian people and co-ordinate Arab views on
    Israeli practices against the Palestinians.

    Shaath said that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who
    has been confined to a compound in the West Bank town of
    Ramallah would fight Israeli threats to "killl or deport him"
    "He is going to fight. He is not going to accept to go, and he
    is our leader", Shaath said.

    Israelis were carrying out "war crimes in "a gross
    violation of everything that has been done, said of
    international law and the Geneva Convention", Shaath said.

    He accused Israelis of summary executions of Palestinian
    policemen "They are shooting on the spot, summary execution of
    policemen, they are stripping policemen and taking them with
    Israeli police forces to their houses. They are doing war
    crimes that nobody has ever expected - at the sight of this
    whole world", Shaath told reporters at a news conference.

    Shaath said that under thses circumstances the Arab League
    had been called for Wednesday.

    Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said Sharon's
    offer to have Arafat taken out of Ramallah on condition that
    he never returned there and the "foreign military occupation
    against the Palestinian people and their leaders" would have
    "its own repercussions ... will have a lot of effects
    throughout the Arab world and throughout the world.

    Amr Moussa said "We should warn those - both in Israel and
    anywhere else - who favour this dangerous option. We warn them
    that it will add to the very fragile, volatile, serious,
    dangerous situation and we shall definitely live up to meet
    those decisions that I believe will render the situation
    impossible."
    The latest Israeli actions, which include a siege of
    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's headquarters, have
    triggered demonstrations in several Arab states.

    Israel's attacks on Palestinians, in what it says is an
    attempt to halt a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings, has
    charged emotions in Egypt and other Arab countries.

    Police in Cairo used tear gas and water cannons on
    Tuesday to disperse more than 5,000 protesters near the
    Israeli embassy who were demonstrating against Israeli attacks
    on Palestinian cities and towns.

    On the fifth consecutive day of anti-Israeli protests,
    some 33 people were detained when students at Cairo University
    tried to turn a campus demonstration into a rush through the
    streets to the nearby embassy, security sources said.

    Demonstrators also had been repelled by police on Monday
    as they attempted to protest outside the embassy, which is on
    the upper floors of a Cairo tower block.

    Egyptians have demonstrated each day since Israel besieged
    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's headquarters in the West
    Bank city of Ramallah on Friday and declared Arafat an enemy.

    Demonstrations on Egyptian university campuses are common,
    but in recent days students and others have sought to vent
    their anger on the streets. Heavy security has kept them in
    check.

    Egypt became the first Arab state to sign a peace deal
    with Israel in 1979, but ties have remained frosty in the
    absence of progress on agreements with other Arab states.


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