Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat yesterday was quoted as saying that the US-backed "road map" for Middle East peace is dead and that Israel is to blame.
The plan, launched June 4, calls on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to end nearly three years of violence and envisions the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005.
PHOTO: AFP
The plan has been stalled for several weeks because of renewed fighting and a deadlock between Israel and the Palestinians on the dismantling of armed groups. Israel has accused Arafat of getting in the way of the road map and trying to undermine his prime minister, the US-backed Mahmoud Abbas, at every turn.
The CNN Web site yesterday quoted Arafat as saying the peace plan has no future.
"The road map is dead, but only because of Israeli military aggression in recent weeks," Arafat said.
The latest escalation was set off by a Hamas bus bombing in Jerusalem in mid-August in which 21 people died. Since then, 16 Palestinians -- 11 Palestinian militants and five bystanders -- have been killed in six Israeli helicopter strikes in the Gaza Strip. After the first of the strikes -- which killed Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab -- Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups announced that they were cancelling a seven week ceasefire with Israel.
Meanwhile, calling Arafat the biggest obstacle to peace, an Israeli defense minister said on Tuesday that Israel could seek to expel the Palestinian leader by the end of the year,
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who has long supported expelling Arafat, issued the warning as Arafat and Abbas remained locked in a power struggle.
Abbas is increasingly unpopular at home and could be ousted, possibly in a parliament vote next week. Arafat and Abbas have clashed on control of security forces and key appointments, threatening a rift that could hinder peace efforts.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Ghassan Khatib said Mofaz's threat of expelling Arafat only raised tensions, "but is consistent with the spirit of escalation of the Israeli leadership."
In an interview with Israel's Army Radio, Mofaz said Arafat was blocking progress on the road map.
"Arafat, of course, has become the most significant obstacle both to the leadership of [Abbas] and to the peace process," Mofaz said. "I think that he has to disappear from the stage of history, and not be included in the ranks of the Palestinian leadership."
The defense minister said Israel made a "historic mistake" when it decided not to exile him two years ago.
"With regard to the future, I think we will be compelled to deal with this issue within a relatively short period of time, very possibly even this year," he said.
Mofaz said if Israel decides to expel Arafat, the timing would have to be chosen carefully so as not to undermine Abbas, who Israel believes is serious about reaching a peace deal.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)