Arafat makes it clear at UN, there will be no peace:
Accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing; and no one at the UN laughs him off the stage?
Monday, November 12, 2001 Cheshvan 26, 5762 Israel Time: 03:35 (GMT+2)
haaretzdaily.com
Powell soon to present U.S. principles to advance peace process
By Ha'aretz Service and Agencies
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat accused Israel of ethnic cleansing in the territories and repeated his call for the international community to send peacekeepers to the area, during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Sunday.
"The Israeli government is employing state terror against the Palestinians, using fighter-planes, helicopter gunships, tanks, naval vessels and weapons forbidden by international conventions," said Arafat. "We call on the international community to end this war and to send observers to protect our people from the ethnic cleansing being carried out by Israel."
"Peace will not be achieved without international intervention," Arafat added.
In his address, Arafat also welcomed U.S. support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and called for U.S. mediation to turn that vision into reality.
"I would like to express my deepest appreciation," he said. "We welcome the positive positions declared by President George Bush and other leaders who have called for the establishment of the Palestinian state.
He also said that it was no longer possible to reach interim agreements between Israel and the Palestinians as suggested by the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
"I will candidly say to you that reviving the peace process will not be possible, after everything that has happened, through interim solutions. It is impossible, of course, to achieve through interim agreement." |
