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Israeli Soldiers Shoot Two Palestinians As Mubarak Warns Of Chaos
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| Mubarak warns of regional chaos if Arafat is harmed |
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, Feb 9 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli soldiers shot and wounded two Palestinian teenage brothers who were throwing stones at an army unit, hospital sources said Saturday, adding one of them was in serious condition.
The Israeli atrocities continued against the backdrop of Sharon failing to secure a boycott by Washington of Palestinian president Yasser Arafat.
Arafat "is not and never will be a partner. He's out of play," the prime minister had said, calling for an "alternative Palestinian leadership."
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, on a visit to France, warned Saturday that all hell would break loose throughout the Middle East if any "misfortune" were to befall Arafat, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"If by misfortune the slightest thing were to happen to him, there would be chaos that would submerge all the states of the region, including those that support Israel," Mubarak said after a lunch in Paris with French President Jacques Chirac.
He described as "a very serious matter" the virtual confinement of Arafat, who has been restricted by the Israeli army to his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah since December 3.
"I am not defending him as an individual, but the cause of peace and stability in the region," he added.
Mubarak said he was in constant contact with all parties to try to solve the deadly 16-month-old conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
"I explained all the problems to Jacques Chirac so we can cooperate with the Americans, and with the Israelis themselves, to resolve this problem because the longer it goes on the greater the risks of violence become."
In another development in Ramallah, a group from the Israeli-Arab political party, the Arab Movement for Change, met with Palestinian president Yasser Arafat, who is under Israeli house arrest, Saturday in a show of support, news agencies reported.
The some 200-strong delegation was led by Arab Israeli MP Ahmed Tibi, who has advised Arafat for more than six years and who mediated in talks that led to Israel and the Palestinians signing the 1993 Oslo partial peace accords.
Arab Israelis make up 18 percent of Israel's population of around six million people.
Arafat, while under virtual house arrest in the West Bank town of Ramallah won an international diplomatic coup when U.S President George W. Bush rejected Sharon's urgings to freeze the Palestinian leader out of future negotiations.
The Palestinian Authority on Friday welcomed Bush's refusal to boycott Arafat and accused Sharon of trying to destroy any peace hopes.
Bush's position "constitutes a step in the right direction," said Arafat's adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina, who nevertheless criticised "the absence of a serious U.S. role, warning it would increase tension" in the area.
In Madrid, European Commission president Romano Prodi said a refusal by Israel to let the European Union play a formal role in peace efforts has kept the EU on the sidelines.
Such a refusal also seemed to emanate from the United States, who dismissed French ideas to break the peace stalemate, stressing the need to stick to proposals already on the table.
The French proposals, revealed Friday, include holding elections to strengthen the legitimacy of Arafat's Palestinian Authority and the recognition of a Palestinian state as a starting point for peace talks.
Germany nevertheless announced it was sending its foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, to the region next week.
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