The British and Israeli governments were engaged in a full-scale row yesterday Monday after Ariel Sharon banned Palestinians from attending a peace conference in London next week. The conference, a pet project of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is now almost certain to be postponed.
Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, who controls the movement of all Palestinians in and out of the West Bank and Gaza, imposed the travel ban as part of punishment measures after suicide bombings killed 22 in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
Britain's foreign secretary, Jack Straw, had fiery exchanges with his Israeli counterpart, Binyamin Netanyahu, yesterday morning. Netanyahu further inflamed the situation by publishing extracts of the private conversation between the two men, an unusual breach of diplomatic etiquette.
The row marks a distinct cooling in British-Israeli relations. Until now, Israel has viewed Blair as being one of their few dependable supporters in Europe.
A delegation of six Palestinians was invited to the Foreign Office residence at Carlton Gardens for a two-day conference next Monday and Tuesday to discuss reform of the Palestinian authority, including how to clamp down on militant groups. Also invited were representatives from the US, the UN, the EU, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
Straw, angry that Israel had not informed him of the decision, which he had only heard about on radio news, called Netanyahu to express his regret at the ban. He asked Netanyahu to reconsider but there is little expectation that Israel will back down.
Netanyahu, according to the Israeli transcript, told Straw that the bombings ruled out "business as usual" and he urged Britain to adopt the position of the US president, George Bush, "that leaders compromised by terror cannot be partners for peace".
He added: "You in Britain are doing the exact opposite."
Straw countered, according to the transcript: "No, it is Israel that is doing the opposite. Instead of concentrating on dealing with terrorism, it is striking at [Palestinian] delegates."
The Foreign Office took the line that it was a private conversation and it would not comment on the details of what took place.
Straw, in a speech later, said the conference was in the interests of Israelis as well as Palestinians because security was on the agenda. He phoned US Secretary of State Colin Powell to inform him of the ban but Washington is unlikely to intervene to put pressure on Israel because it had little interest in the conference in the first place.
Netanyahu, elaborating on the ban at a press conference, said: "Legitimizing the sham reform efforts of Arafat's regime will, in effect, legitimize a Palestinian leadership compromised by terror.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique