WEST BANK: PALESTINIAN REACTIONS TO UNITED NATIONS VOTE CALLING ON ISRAEL TO DROP THREATS TO YASSER ARAFAT

Record ID: 328705

  • Title: WEST BANK: PALESTINIAN REACTIONS TO UNITED NATIONS VOTE CALLING ON ISRAEL TO DROP THREATS TO YASSER ARAFAT
  • Date: 20th September 2003
  • Summary: (U3) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 20, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT MEETING WITH PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL AND FATAH MEMBERS 0.02 2. CLOSE OF ARAFAT 0.10 3. VARIOUS OF PLC AND FATAH MEMBERS SEATED AT MEETING 0.22 4. WIDE OF ARAFAT AND MEETING 0.27 5. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF ARAFAT'S COMPOUND WITH GIANT POSTER OF ARAFAT 0.32 6. SMV PLC MEMBER, SAEB EREKAT, SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE 0.39 7. CLOSE OF CAMERAMAN 0.47 8. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(English) SAEB EREKAT, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL MEMBER, SAYING: "The United Nations General Assembly resolution last night reflected the determination of the international community to continue the peace process, to keep the road map on the table, to respect the democratic choice of the Palestinian people, because President Arafat is the elected leader of the Palestinian people. I hope now every effort will be exerted in order to revive the peace process and to keep it on track." 1.12 9. SLV EREKAT GETTING INTO VEHICLE/ CAR DRIVING AWAY 1.20 (U3) HEBRON, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 20, 2003) (REUTERS) 10. VARIOUS OF PALESTINIANS MARCHING IN HEBRON STREETS (3 SHOTS) 1.56 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 5th October 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RAMALLAH AND HEBRON, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA9CFT40Q3Z66RGID9D316VIPYZ
  • Story Text: Palestinians react to the vote at the United
    Nations calling on Israel to drop threats against Yasser Arafat.



    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat met Palestinian
    Legislative Council and Fatah members in the West Bank city
    of Ramallah on Saturday (September 20).

    A U.S.-backed peace plan envisaging a Palestinian state
    in Israeli-occupied territory has been derailed by a
    relapse into tit-for-tat violence over the past month with
    Washington largely preoccupied by turmoil in Iraq and a
    budding election campaign.

    In New York, the U.N. General Assembly demanded Israel
    drop a threat to expel or harm Palestinian President Yasser
    Arafat in a 133-4 vote with 15 abstentions sponsored by
    Arab and non-aligned states. The United States, Israel and
    two small Pacific states voted against it.

    The United States vetoed a similar resolution in the
    U.N. Security Council on Tuesday (September 16). Washington
    has no veto in the General Assembly, but Assembly
    resolutions carry far less clout than those of a Security
    Council dominated by Western powers.

    Israel, which sees the United Nations as intrinsically
    biased against it, stirred an international outcry last
    week when it announced a decision in principle to "remove"
    Arafat as an "obstacle to peace", without saying when or
    how it would act.

    Seventy-four year-old Arafat denies inciting violence
    and has vowed to use his personal weapons to resist any
    move against him.

    Palestinian Legislative Council Member Saeb Erekat
    said, "The United Nations General Assembly resolution last
    night reflected the determination of the international
    community to continue the peace process, to keep the road
    map on the table, to respect the democratic choice of the
    Palestinian people, because President Arafat is the elected
    leader of the Palestinian people. I hope now every effort
    will be exerted in order to revive the peace process and to
    keep it on track."
    A senior Israeli government source said Prime Minister
    Ariel Sharon would send a high-ranking delegation to
    Washington next week to try to defuse U.S. opposition to
    the routing of a security barrier Israel is building
    through the West Bank.

    The United States has said it is considering how much
    of a $9 billion loan guarantee package it will deduct in
    response to Jewish settlement-building in the West Bank and
    that the barrier, which shields some settlements, could be
    an issue.

    Israel says the barrier, a mix of fences and walls, is
    to keep suicide bombers out of its cities. Palestinians
    call it a "new Berlin Wall" expropriating farmland and, in
    effect, annexing terrain they seek for a state under the
    U.S.-backed peace plan.

    The senior Israeli source said two options were on the
    table -- extending the barrier well into the West Bank to
    include settlements with 30,000 Jews, an option demanded by
    rightist ministers, or separate fences enclosing individual
    settlements.

    U.S. officials want the barrier built as close as
    possible to the "Green Line" boundary between Israel and
    the West Bank, and not looped eastward to include Ariel, a
    major settlement 20 km (12 miles) inside the territory.

    The U.S.-engineered "road map" peace plan requires
    Israel to freeze settlement activity in the West Bank and
    Gaza Strip and Palestinians to halt militant attacks to
    pave the way for a Palestinian state by 2005.

    Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told Israel Radio
    that Arafat's choice for prime minister, Ahmed Qurie, could
    prove himself a peace partner only by cracking down on
    militant groups once he takes office with his cabinet,
    expected next week.

    President George W. Bush said on Thursday (September
    18) the "road map" had stalled and he blamed what he called
    Arafat's failed leadership.

    Palestinians say the road map was undermined by
    Israel's continued raids to kill or capture militants even
    after they declared a ceasefire in June. They cancelled it
    a month ago.



  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register