U.S. let Israel terrorize Palestine -official
U.S. let Israel terrorize Palestine -official
Agencies Kuala Lumpur
The head of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation's political office, Farouq al-Kaddoumi, on Sunday accused the United States of giving Israel freedom to carry out atrocities and terrorism against his people, Malaysian state news agency Bernama reported.
Kaddoumi, speaking on arrival in Kuala Lumpur for a meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) foreign ministers, said he viewed then prospects for peace in the Middle East as "increasingly hopeless".
"We are sure that the Americans ... have given them (Israel) the green light to continue such atrocities and terrorism. This is state terrorism," he told Bernama.
President George W. Bush on Saturday defended Israel's storming of Yasser Arafat's compound and demanded that the Palestinian leader do more to stem violence. He consulted with five world leaders about the crisis, stepping directly into peacemaking made yet more difficult by another suicide bombing in Israel.
"I can understand why the Israeli government takes the actions they take. Their country is under attack," Bush said, a day after Israeli tanks invaded buildings in Arafat's government complex on the West Bank.
"Every day there has been a suicide bombing, and every day the government sees the loss of innocent life," Bush told reporters summoned to his ranch at Crawford, Texas.
Kaddoumi said Israel had deployed more than 40,000 soldiers in just a small area of the West Bank and Palestinians were facing difficulty in getting medicine and food supply.
"They have overrun several towns, they use their snipers, heavy artillery, M16 and combat helicopters in addition to soldiers who enter the cities and are destroying residential areas and killing people," he said.
He said the Israelis had no respect for any United Nations' Security Council resolution including the latest one which called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces and a cease-fire.
"They arrest and kill Palestinians, their crackdown on these innocent citizens of Palestine continues and yet they want the Palestinians to exercise restraint."
Kaddoumi said the United States had done noting to reactivate the derailed Camp David peace process.
"We spent 10 years and waited for Israel to act in accordance with the terms of the agreement and for the Americans to pressure the Israelis to implement all the terms of the agreement. But unfortunately they did not do so," said Kaddoumi.
He said the chances for peace in the region were more remote.
"It is hopeless. It has become a hopeless case after 10 years of negotiations," he said.
He repeated accusations that Israeli Prime Minister Arial Sharon is a war criminal.
"Sharon is a war criminal and Israel is a racist regime. They are waging a ridiculous war against the Palestinian people," Kaddoumi said.
The three-day OIC meeting begins on Monday, and ministers will discuss the root causes of terrorism and how to dispel perceptions that Muslims are largely responsible.
Most will agree that Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is one of the main causes of terrorism, and several accuse the Jewish state of practicing state terrorism.
Meanwhile, Bush called King Abdullah II of Jordan, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, who has offered a leading peace initiative.
The president did not speak with Arafat or Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Secretary of State Colin Powell planned to speak to Sharon and possibly Arafat, Bush said. U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni will remain in the region to continue his peacemaking efforts.
The flurry of activity came as the Israeli occupation of Arafat's offices continued, and followed a three-day period in which 30 people were killed in anti-Israeli attacks. Bush, spending a long weekend on his ranch, made no public comment on Friday about the violence, nor any phone calls.
Though Arafat was penned in by Israeli forces, Bush said he was convinced the Palestinian leader can do more to halt suicide bombings. The president said he saw a "pattern, a routine, and a constancy" in the suicide attacks that suggested an effort to sabotage the peace process.
"The more progress we make toward achieving a cease-fire or meaningful security discussions, the more a killer organization will try to disrupt the process," he said.
Bush called on Arafat to "stand up and condemn, in Arabic, these attacks." He insisted that Palestinian security forces can more effectively keep suicide bombers out of Israel.
But in his phone talks with the leaders, Bush heard fresh expressions of sympathy for the Palestinians.
Jordan's king urged Bush to intercede quickly so Israel would end its "aggression on the Palestinian people and the siege on President Arafat," the official Petra news agency said. He said continued Israeli military escalation could bring "dangerous consequences in which things will get out of control and shake the stability and security of the whole region."
Mubarak urged Bush to press Israel to lift its siege on Arafat, said the pro-government newspaper Al-Gomhuriya.
Asked whether Israel's seizure of the Arafat compound was justified, Bush said: "Israel is a democratically elected government, and the government is responding to the will of the people for there to be more security."
"Israel will make the decisions necessary to defend herself," Bush said. But he renewed his call for the Israelis to seek peace at the same time.
Bush normally enjoys bantering with his press corps, but was somber on Saturday. When photographers were ushered in before his impromptu news conference, Bush did not utter a word, and hardly cracked a smile in his session with reporters.
As he prepared to celebrate Easter, the highest of Christian holidays, Bush seemed reflective about the human toll on both sides of the Mideast conflict.
"I sympathize with the frustrations of the Palestinian people, those who long for normalcy, those who want to send their kids to school and go to work," he said.
"I pray for peace," he said.