Palestinians on Thursday lashed out in anger and confusion at the Bush administration's move to legitimize Jewish settlements on occupied land, calling the seismic shift in US foreign policy a "catastrophe."
Arab and Palestinian leaders had barely 24 hours notice of the extent of US President George W. Bush's concessions to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, deepening the fury of their reaction.
Palestinian figures, such as Finance Minister Salam Fayed, who held three meetings in the last year with US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and her aides, told staff he felt betrayed.
Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath was on the point of canceling his planned visit to Washington next week.
"Until two weeks ago, the Americans were telling us that it is not final. It may or may not happen," said Hassan Abdel Rahman, the PLO's representative in Washington.
"I was told by people that there were different views of this in the administration. Of course, as usual the supporters of Israel who want to protect Sharon and the rightwing government of Israel prevailed."
That response was echoed by the Arab League on Thursday which accused the US of reneging on its role of mediator.
"We expect the United States to play honest broker. We accused it before of being unbalanced. Now we can't even say that. The United States has adopted Israel's position," Arab League spokesman Hesham Youssef said.
French President Jacques Chirac said that Bush had set an "unfortunate and dangerous precedent," and flatly rejected any unilateral changes to the borders of Israeli and Palestinian territory.
"I have reservations about the unilateral, bilateral questioning of international law," Chirac said.
The EU's Brian Cowen adopted a similar stand.
"The European Union will not recognize any change to the pre-1967 borders other than those arrived at by agreement between the parties," he said.
From Ramallah, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Queria proposed that an emergency meeting of the Arab League and the other sponsors of Bush's erstwhile road map -- the EU, Russia and the UN -- be convened.
"This is a catastrophe that has to be dealt with," he said. "What is fixed is that we have rights and we will defend them."
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS