Egypt cuts ties with Israel
[The Guardian (UK) 4/2/02] Egypt is to suspend all contacts with Israel except any diplomatic ties that might help the Palestinians, the Egyptian minister of information, Safwat el-Sherif, announced today.
Mr Sherif was quoted by Egypt's Middle East news agency as saying Egypt would limit its contacts with Israel to those that "serve the Palestinian cause", indicating the move falls short of cutting all ties.
Egypt, one of only three Arab states with diplomatic relations with Israel, has been under pressure to cut its diplomatic ties altogether and freeze its 1979 peace treaty with the Jewish state.
The Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, sent a message to the US president, George Bush, yesterday urging him to "take immediate action" to stop the Israeli offensive.
The Arab League's secretary general, Amr Moussa, announced today that an emergency foreign ministers meeting would take place on Saturday at the league's Cairo headquarters.
A meeting was requested by the Palestinians to forge a unified stance against Israel's invasion of Palestinian cities and the quarantining of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.
Elsewhere, the Vatican criticised Israel today for "humiliating" the Palestinians, and called in the US and Israeli ambassadors to the city state to discuss the growing crisis.
In a strongly-worded statement, the Vatican said it had called in the Israeli and US ambassadors to the Holy See today to discuss the crisis in the Middle East, Reuters reported.
In apparent reference to a recent wave of Palestinian suicide attacks, the Vatican said it condemned terrorism, but the statement included a list of criticisms of Israel.
It said Pope John Paul "rejects unjust conditions and humiliations imposed on the Palestinian people as well as the reprisals and revenge attacks which do nothing but feed the sense of frustration and hatred".
In another apparent criticism of Israel it called for a proportionate use of force for "legitimate acts of self defence" and a respect of United Nations resolutions.
Meanwhile, the EU head office today declared American mediation a failure and urged Washington to stand down as primary peacemaker. Instead, the EU wants a broad alliance of nations to mediate a ceasefire and a durable Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
The European Commission president, Romano Prodi, told reporters in Brussels "it is clear [American] mediation efforts have failed and we need new mediation" before the Israeli-Palestinian conflict balloons into an all-out regional war.
The European Union foreign ministers were to discuss this later today in Luxembourg at a special session. Mr Prodi suggested they endorse his call for new negotiations, involving not only the United States, but also the European Union, the United Nations, Russia, moderate Arab states, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
U.S. Lawmakers Renew Calls for Sanctions Against Palestinians
[Washington Post - 4/3/02] Empathy arising from the nation's own experience with suicide attacks has reinforced already strong support for Israel in Congress, prompting renewed efforts to impose sanctions on Palestinian leaders.
With Congress nearing the end of a two-week recess, the outlook for legislative action is unclear. But many lawmakers have spoken out in defense of Israel and declined to second-guess counterstrikes by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in light of the United States' military response to the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Many also say they would support more vigorous intervention by President Bush, and some are openly pushing for such action, although Democratic leaders have generally refrained from direct criticism of the president.
Support for Israel has always run strong on Capitol Hill, both because of the importance of Jewish voters in domestic politics and because of the nation's strategic importance as a pro-Western democracy in a largely Arab region. But lawmakers in both parties say the Sept. 11 attacks and the daily pattern of suicide bombings in Israel have created an even stronger bond that provides wide latitude for self-defense by both countries.
"We can identify with their shock and loss," said Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.). "A lot of us are thinking: There but for the grace of God go we."
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said, "For us it happened one day. For them, it happens day after day. I think there is enormous sympathy for Israel."
Reaction in the House was similar.
"The Israelis have had many September 11ths in their country nearly every day with these suicide bombings," said International Relations Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.). "Sharon has a duty to protect his country and his people."
House Majority Leader Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.), said, "Sharon is doing what we in Texas describe as, 'A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do,' " adding that "it would be fine with me" if the prime minister were to force Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat into exile.
Lawmakers appear divided over whether the administration is sufficiently engaged in trying to end the strife.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) has said the administration should get more involved, but Hyde declined to offer advice. "I'm not ready to suggest that Congress leap into this," Hyde said.
Daschle found a diplomatic way of suggesting more U.S. involvement. "Vice President Cheney said on several occasions that it was critical that we be deeply engaged . . . I agree with the vice president," he said.
Other Democrats edged closer to outright criticism. The administration has demonstrated "some inconsistencies," Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) said last weekend. Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) said the administration has been "timid and tentative" and needs to "risk a little of its own prestige." Lowey, like Daschle, said it's time to send Secretary of State Colin L. Powell to the Middle East.
Several bills have been introduced to pressure the Palestinians to end violence and negotiate a peace agreement. Other bills being drafted, including one by McConnell and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), are aimed specifically at Arafat.
In its current form, the Feinstein-McConnell bill would impose a series of sanctions, including denying Arafat a visa to travel in the United States, restricting operations of the Palestinian office in Washington, imposing travel restrictions on the senior Palestinian representative at the United Nations and seizing any assets held by Arafat in this country. McConnell said the measure is likely to be attached to the foreign operations spending bill for next year if it is not approved separately before that.
The House is considering a bill, introduced last year by Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-N.Y.), that would empower the president -- if he concluded that existing peace accords have been broken -- to impose a variety of sanctions. They include closing the Palestinians' Washington office, designating the Palestinian Authority and related groups as terrorist organizations, denying U.S. visas to top Palestinian officials and eliminating all non-humanitarian aid to the West Bank and Gaza.
Another bill, sponsored by Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), would prohibit any federal agency from directly or indirectly assisting the Palestinian Authority or related groups.
Howard Kohr, executive director of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, said he had received a dozen calls from lawmakers over the recess asking what they could do to support Israel.
But a few lawmakers, as well as some Arab American activists, suggested that legislative action condemning Arafat and the PLO would simply imperil the peace process.
"This is not a time for criticism; it's is a time for us to bring people together," said Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), one of 11 lawmakers to vote against a December resolution "expressing solidarity with Israel in the fight against terrorism."
"How do you become an honest broker when you give one side the feeling you're against them?" Dingell said.
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, argued that Congress has "served all too often as an impediment to diplomacy" by siding with Israel against the Palestinians. "What Congress wants to do is institutionalize the bias that already exists in American policy. . . . If they wanted to pass a resolution rounding up Palestinians in the United States and deporting them, they probably could get the votes to do that."
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
[posted 4/3/02]
Acts of War | The New Normalcy | R&R Main
Page
Join Refuse
& Resist!
305 Madison Ave., Suite 1166, New York, NY 10165
Phone: 212-713-5657
email: info@refuseandresist.org