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Arafat…
trapped and alone
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, September 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The
Israeli government rejected Monday, September 23, a request by European
envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos to meet with besieged Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official said.
“Moratinos’
demand was rejected by the office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,” the
official told Agence France Presse (AFP) on condition of anonymity.
A
senior Palestinian official had said earlier that Moratinos, a diplomat
from Denmark, which holds the E.U.’s rotating presidency, would meet
Monday with the veteran leader, who has been trapped in his office by
Israeli tanks for four days.
Meanwhile,
the world’s condemnation for the Israeli siege on Arafat’s office
continued as the Bahraini monarch, King Hamad and King Abdullah II of
Jordan released a statement on Monday, September 22, saying that the
siege threatened to finish off the Mideast peace process.
The
two kings, who met shortly after Abdullah’s arrival in Manama on
Sunday at the start of a three-day trip, said that the siege threatened
“to put a definitive end to the Middle East peace process.”
“A
weakening of the lawful Palestinian Authority is also a weakening of the
peace process,” the Bahraini cabinet warned, calling for international
intervention to “defuse the crisis” in the Palestinian territories.
Elsewhere
in the Arab World, Yemen on Monday also condemned the siege dubbing it
as “terrorist and savage.”
A
Yemeni Foreign Ministry Spokesman said in a statement that the
demolition of the HQ buildings in Ramallah “mocks the international
will which recognizes the authority run by Arafat,” a foreign ministry
spokesman said in a statement.
The
spokesman voiced “deep concern in the face of the grave escalation
which is part of a prolonged brutal offensive directed against the Arab
region in the framework of a Zionist plot.”
President
Ali Abdullah Saleh meanwhile reassured Arafat of Yemen’s solidarity in
a telephone call Sunday, the official SABA news agency said. He urged
Arafat to put up “greater resistance”, it added.
“We
stand by your side and the side of the Palestinian people in all
circumstances,” Saleh said, warning of “a new cycle of violence and
instability” if Arafat is “harmed by the Zionists”.
In
South East Asia, Indonesia on Monday strongly condemned Israel's siege
calling on it to end the offensive immediately, reported AFP.
“(Indonesia)
strongly condemns the recent intensification by Israeli military forces
of the siege and destruction of the headquarters of Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“It
demands that Israel immediately ends its siege and destruction ... and
fully comply with the relevant resolutions of the United Nations
Security Council.” The ministry said the siege was an attempt to
sideline and harm the safety of Arafat.
“Through
its actions, Israel is once again threatening the stability and security
of the region and jeopardizing the future of the peace process.
Indonesia,
the world’s most populous Muslim country, with no diplomatic relations
with Israel, reiterated “its support and solidarity with the people of
Palestine.”
Also
in the region, Malaysian local media reported Monday, September 22, that
the Malaysian premiere Mahathir Mohamad has written to U.S., French and
German leaders after Arafat telephoned him with a plea for help.
Mahathir,
who is in Copenhagen for the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), said he feared
for Arafat’s life and that his death would spark more violence, the
official Bernama news agency said.
Mahathir,
who leads a moderate Muslim state whose relations with the U.S. have
improved through his support for the war on terrorism, received a
telephone call from Arafat on Friday, shortly before leaving Kuala
Lumpur for Europe.
“Arafat
told me he was under quasi-house arrest,” Mahathir said. “This is a
most extraordinary situation although I know they are doing this to him
because of the recent attacks by suicide bombers.
“Even
without Arafat these attacks will continue as they do not take their cue
from him.
“I
fear that if Arafat is killed he will be regarded as a martyr and this
will lead to more violence, more bombing attacks.”
Foreign
Minister Syed Hamid Albar told Malaysian journalists traveling with the
prime minister’s delegation that Mahathir had written to presidents
George W.Bush and Jaques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
to seek their intervention to resolve the siege of Arafat's
headquarters.
The
condemnation also came in from the U.K. British Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw said on Sunday, September 22 that the Israeli blockage and damage
to Arafat’s compound is unjustified.
“I
am deeply concerned by the continuing deployment of Israeli troops in
Ramallah and have today instructed our ambassador to raise my concerns
directly with the Israeli government,” Straw said in a statement:
“This
blockade and the damage to President Arafat’s compound is not
justified.
“We
all understand Israel’s paramount need for security and to protect
itself from terrorist attack, but it is hard to see how the action in
Ramallah will solve the problem of Palestinian violence,” the British
minister said.
