JERUSALEM/ EGYPT: ISRAELI REACTIONS TO PALESTINIAN SUICIDE BOMBING WHICH HAS KILLED FOUR /SYRIA DENIES INVOLVEMENT

Record ID: 358913

  • Title: JERUSALEM/ EGYPT: ISRAELI REACTIONS TO PALESTINIAN SUICIDE BOMBING WHICH HAS KILLED FOUR /SYRIA DENIES INVOLVEMENT
  • Date: 27th February 2005
  • Summary: (W2) JERUSALEM (FEBRUARY 27, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON ENTERING CABINET MEETING 0.01 2. VARIOUS SHARON OPENING CABINET MEETING 0.19 3. WIDE/PAN OF MEETING 0.25 4. VARIOUS OF (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON, SAYING: "The cabinet will hear this morning a security
  • Embargoed: 14th March 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM AND CAIRO, EGYPT
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVAAIRMKO3ITS7RMNAAXFJXWOT65
  • Story Text: Tel Aviv blast dims peace hopes, Syria denies
    involvement.




    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, responding to a
    Palestinian suicide bombing that killed four Israelis, said
    on Sunday (February 27) new Palestinian President Mahmoud
    Abbas must "wipe out" militant groups before peacemaking
    can resume.

    "The orders came from Islamic Jihad sources in Syria. We
    know this for a fact....There will not be any diplomatic
    progress, I repeat, no diplomatic progress, until the
    Palestinians take vigorous action to wipe out the terror
    groups and their infrastructure in the Palestinian
    Authority's territory," Sharon told his cabinet.

    In the broadcast remarks, Sharon said Abbas's immediate
    task following the deadly attack at a Tel Aviv nightclub on
    Friday was to move against Islamic Jihad, the group that
    claimed responsibility for the bombing that shattered a de
    facto truce.

    If action was not taken, the prime minister said,
    "Israel will have to step up its military activities that
    are aimed at protecting the lives of Israeli citizens".

    Sharon and Abbas declared a ceasefire at a
    groundbreaking summit in Egypt on Feb. 8 that raised hopes
    of an end to more than four years of violence stalling
    Middle East peacemaking.

    Palestinian militant groups rejected a formal truce but
    had said they would continue to abide by a de facto
    ceasefire that preceded the summit.

    Abbas strongly condemned the Tel Aviv bombing, the
    first deadly Palestinian attack in Israel since November,
    saying it was aimed at sabotaging peace efforts.

    But immediately after the bombing, Israeli leaders said
    he should start to arrest and disarm militants, as required
    by a U.S.-backed peace "road map", rather than pursue a
    dialogue with them.

    Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said in Cairo
    on Sunday (February 27) that his country denied any
    involvement in the suicide attack in Tel Aviv.

    "I think that the attack came from Israel itself but and
    I don't want to accuse anyone," Al-Shara said after talks
    with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.

    Syria is already under international pressure over the
    assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik
    al-Hariri.

    Washington has backed United Nations calls for Syria to
    withdraw its troops from Lebanon and end its role as a
    power broker in its neighbour.


    awa/



    Ends

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