EGYPT: HEAD OF ARAB LEAGUE AMR MOUSSA REACTS TO ISRAELI PRESENCE IN PALESTINIAN PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND IN WEST BANK
Record ID:
400334
EGYPT: HEAD OF ARAB LEAGUE AMR MOUSSA REACTS TO ISRAELI PRESENCE IN PALESTINIAN PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND IN WEST BANK
- Title: EGYPT: HEAD OF ARAB LEAGUE AMR MOUSSA REACTS TO ISRAELI PRESENCE IN PALESTINIAN PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND IN WEST BANK
- Date: 31st March 2002
- Summary: (U3)CAIRO, EGYPT (MARCH 30, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR ARAB LEAGUE HEADQUARTERS; MV SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE ARAB LEAGUE AMR MOUSSA ARRIVING FOR MEETING (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. SLV PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVES AND AMBASSADORS AT ROUND TABLE; MV MINISTER TALKING AT ROUND TABLE; MV AMR MOUSSA BRIEFING REPRESENTATIVES; SLV MOUSSA WALKING UP TO PODIUM FOR
- Embargoed: 15th April 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
- Country: Egypt
- Reuters ID: LVA6HNA8MNZ84CRHW7P7K65ISQFD
- Story Text: Head of the Arab League Amr Moussa has said that the
presence of Israeli tanks and troops only metres from
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's compound, is a "very
serious development" and will breed resistance from the
Palestinians.
Permanent representatives and ambassadors met at the
Arab League on Saturday (March 30, 2002) for emergency talks to
discuss the current situation in the Palestinian territories.
Secretary-General Amr Moussa stressed that the situation
was escalating and that Palestinians couldn't be blamed any
more for defending themselves.
"As many of us said yesterday, if you do that and enter
into the residence of the president and threaten buildings
around that compound full of families, this is an attack of
threat to the civilians, Palestinian civilians. So if you do
that don't blame the Palestinians any more," Moussa told
reporters following the emergency meeting.
Palestinian gunmen exchanged fire with Israeli troops in
the West Bank town of Ramallah on Friday (March 29) after
tanks smashed into the headquarters of Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat.
Israeli troops then traded fire with Palestinian security
forces shooting from a commercial building in Ramallah on
Saturday (March 30), witnesses said. Israeli forces also fired
tank shells.
Moussa stressed that this was an escalation that is "very,
very serious and the time has come for many, including
America, to understand the situation and this emanates from a
foreign military occupation by Israel."
The offensive, intended to isolate Arafat and halt suicide
bombings, was the toughest direct attack on him in 18 months
of conflict and posed the biggest threat to his grip on power
since his return to the West Bank from exile in 1994.
Tensions have boiled over despite the emergence of an Arab
plan for Middle East peace with Israel which was unanimously
endorsed at an Arab summit in Beirut on Thursday (March 28)
and cautiously welcomed by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres.
The Saudi peace plan calls for complete Israeli withdrawal
from Arab land occupied in the 1967 war in return for Arab
states granting full diplomatic ties to Israel.
"If this is the Israeli response to the initiative then it
is for you and the world to know who is on the side of peace
and who is on the side of aggression," Moussa said.
Early on Saturday the United States joined other U.N.
Security Council members in adopting a resolution calling for
the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian cities.
Saturday's resolution calls on Israelis and Palestinians
move immediately to a "meaningful cease-fire" and "calls for
the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian cities,
including Ramallah."
The resolution was approved by a vote of 14 to 0, with
Syria leaving its seat empty, a rarity in the council.
At least 1,111 Palestinians and 383 Israelis have been
killed since the violence began in September 2000. Some 200
Palestinians and 100 Israelis died in March alone.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None