We need world effort against terrorism: Arafat
We need world effort against terrorism: Arafat
Agencies, Doha/Gaza
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat called on Wednesday for
international action to rid the world of terrorism but also used
a speech to Muslim ministers to criticize Israel.
Arafat told an emergency meeting of foreign ministers of the
Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Qatar that Israel
was taking advantage of last month's attacks in the United States
to launch new offensives against Palestinians.
"The terrible terror actions that struck the United States on
Sept. 11...have confronted the world order and international
relations with new and unprecedented challenges requiring the
world community and the United Nations to pause, reject them and
do all that is necessary to stop them," he said.
He added that the world community needed to take "joint action
to rid humanity once and for all of all forms of dark terrorism,
occupation...and hated racial discrimination".
Arafat also said that Israel "is exploiting the American
tragedy and the world's preoccupation with it to escalate its
aggression against our land and to re-occupy large parts of our
liberated land".
Meanwhile, a rare lull in more than a year of violence
descended on Wednesday on Israel and the Palestinian territories,
where the United States praised a Palestinian crackdown on
Islamic hardliners but still voiced concern over the deaths of
two people in violent protests.
In riot-torn Gaza City, schools reopened two days after
students demonstrations against the U.S. bombing of suspected
terror targets in Afghanistan turned into bloody street battles
that left two young people dead and scores injured.
Two small, peaceful protests were staged outside secondary
schools to register student anger at the heavy-handed crackdown
by Palestinian police.
Police did not intervene in Wednesday's protests, each
attended by about 200 people. They also opened the crossings with
Israel, which had been closed to all foreigners since Monday's
unrest.
Police came in for heavy criticism for their handling of the
student protest, with rights groups blaming them for the two
deaths.
Security officers blamed the killings on masked gunmen in the
crowd who shot and wounded at least one officer.
The Palestinian Authority ordered an inquiry into the violence
which erupted as police tried to prevent students, organized by
Hamas militant group, from expressing their opposition to the
U.S. air strikes.
The United States, which has been pushing both sides toward a
truce to allow it to focus international attention on combating
bin Laden, said it was "encouraged" by Palestinian moves to rein
in Islamic militants in the West Bank and Gaza.
At the same time, Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres to renew U.S. calls for Israel to cease "provocative"
incursions into the Palestinian territories, said M Spate
Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
"We're encouraged by the recent security steps that have been
taken by the Palestinian Authority to honor its commitments to
achieve a cease-fire and we believe those measures should
continue," Boucher said.
But, he stressed that Palestinian police should avoid using
unnecessary force in enforcing the law after Monday's rioting in
Gaza.
Deep divisions emerged Wednesday between Israeli ministers on
the left and right of the coalition government over what approach
to take toward Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the wake of
U.S. attacks on Afghanistan and rioting in Gaza.