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Palestinian Minister: Dissolution of Fact-Finding Team a License for Israel To Continue Massacres |
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JERUSAELM, May 1, 2002 -- The Palestinian Minister of Local Government and Chief Negotiator, Saeb Erekat said in an interview with Albawaba.com that any decision by the UN secretary General Kofi Annan to dissolve the fact finding team in Jenin would give Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, a license for more killings and repetition of massacres and war crimes. In a telephone interview with Albawaba.com Erekat said Wednesday, "In light of the Israeli refusal to cooperate with the fact finding team, Annan must keep the team as it is and send it to the region." The UN Security Council is due to hold consultations Wednesday upon a request by the Arab states to discuss the consequences of the Israeli refusal to cooperate with the fact-finding committee. This move has come after Annan decided to refer the issue to the Security Council shortly after he announced that he would tend to dissolve the committee. In the same context, an Israeli diplomat revealed Wednesday that Israel hopes the US would veto any decision by the security council to send an investigation committee to Jenin after the Jewish state's refusal of receiving the fact finding team. "The committee should come and let Israel refuse it before the whole world," Erekat commented on Israel's refusal to give permission for the fact finding team plane to land in Israel. He added, "the Israeli refusal constitutes another evidence that Israel has things to hide." "By taking such a decision, Israel attempts to hide the crimes and massacres committed by the Israeli army and the fact that it moved the bodies of Palestinians from Jenin camp and buried them in West Bank and other areas known to us. Israel also tries to conceal the fact that the Israeli army used old people and children as human shields in Jenin camp and Nablus." "We as Palestinians will never forget or forgive such actions by Israel. All what we try to do is to prevent the recurrence of such massacres. If Annan dissolves the fact finding committee, he will give Sharon permission for more massacres," the Palestinian chief negotiator asserted. On the other hand, Erekat confirmed that Israel prevented him and the Palestinian negotiating team from gaining access to the besieged Palestinian president's headquarters in Ramallah. Earlier, a senior Palestinian official announced that the Israelis denied Wednesday dawn the negotiating Palestinian team access to Arafat's headquarters making the agreement reached with the American and British experts to lift the siege on Arafat void. But Erekat sees that the Israeli refusal does not constitute a cancellation of the agreement but rather a non-compliance by Israel to what was agreed upon. "We cannot confirm that but we can say that Israel did not comply with what was agreed upon three days ago," said Ereikat. He pointed out that Israel has two faces by using the English language to talk about Mitchell, Tenet and fact finding committee and at the same time uses the Hebrew language to talk about absolute refusal of everything and the continuation of aggression. "In consistence with this policy, Israel keeps besieging Arafat and depriving the besieged Palestinians inside the Nativity Church of food and water, attacking Hebron with tanks and planes and killing a two year old Palestinian girl…and the aggression continues. "I do not see any progress in the negotiations about the Nativity Church siege despite the Israeli reports which claimed that," concluded Erekat. © Albawaba.com, 2002. All rights reserved. Distributed in partnership with Globalvision News Network (www.gvnews.net). |
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