-Caveat Lector-
UN warns of all out war in Middle East
http://theage.com.au/news/20001005/A32240-2000Oct4.html
By ROSS DUNN
JERUSALEM
Thursday 5 October 2000
Middle East crisis talks in Paris last night move to Egypt today, as UN
chief Kofi Annan warned that Palestinians and Israelis were on the brink of
"an all out war".
He was speaking before joining the US brokered meeting in Paris between
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
The talks, chaired by US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, were aimed
at halting a week of violence, which has left as many as 58 dead and more
than a 1000 injured.
Mr Annan stressed the seriousness of the situation. "Instead of moving
forward with a peace settlement, we now seem to have almost an all-out war
in a highly populated area.
"It's incumbent on the leaders to really do whatever they can to reign in
the forces and ensure that innocent civilians are not the ones to pay the
price," he said.
After the Paris meeting, Mr Barak and Mr Arafat will travel to the Red Sea
resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for talks to be hosted by Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak.
Dr Albright is also expected to attend the meeting in Egypt.
The talks come during what appears to be an easing in the level of violence,
although Israel said the worst may be still to come.
Deputy chief-of-staff of the Israeli army, Major-General Moshe Ya'alon, said
an escalation could be expected.
"The climax is still ahead of us and the Israeli defence is ready for any
development," he said.
Israel has agreed to reduce its military presence at points in the occupied
territories where there have been intense friction. Tanks have been pulled
back and other armored vehicles have been positioned so they cannot be seen
from the Palestinian side.
But General Ya'alon said the word "ceasefire" was not the right word to
describe these developments.
"This is not a case of two equal sides that have to put a stop to the firing
between them," he said.
"We are not shooting and taking over territory. We are firing only as
necessary and only in self-defence. Since the start of the wave of violence,
we have reacted to violence against us and are not initiating any violent
operations."
He said Mr Arafat could bring about an end to the violence at any time by
bringing into line the Tanzim, the Palestinian political youth movement
which has been in the thick of the fighting.
But Palestinian leaders insist they are not endangering the Israeli army,
which they say has been using brutal and excessive military power against
their people.
"It's not a war," said senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. "We are
not shooting them; they are shooting at us and we're dying."
Nearly all of those killed have been Palestinians, many of them
stone-throwing youths who were felled by live bullets, and in some cases
anti-tank missiles and machine-gun fire from helicopter gunships.
Images of the fighting have promoted the belief that Israel is using
excessive force
A missile hit a Palestinian rioter killing him as he stood on a rooftop near
the army outpost at Netzarim in the Gaza Strip.
In the frenzy of rage and grief that followed, one of his friends picked up
some a bloodied body part and waved it widely in his bare hands, as others
shouted: "Allahu Akhbar (God is great)."
But Major-General Giora Eilan, Israel's army chief-of-staff, said that the
army only used heavy firepower in extreme situations such as at the Netzarim
Junction, where soldiers at an outpost are guarding a Jewish settlement.
"We try to use fire only when it is needed but you have to understand that
when there is a position or a settlement with a few soldiers that is
attacked by hundreds of people, sometimes the only way to defend your life
is to use live fire when it happens people are killed," he said.
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