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 CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
RSS