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Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (3501)	3/31/2002 1:15:24 AM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Egypt Says Israel Declares War, Arabs Want Peace Fri Mar 29, 2:55 PM ET CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt urged Israel on Friday to stop its reprisals against the Palestinians, and said the attacks were a declaration of war despite Arab calls for peace. Israel had declared Palestinian President Yasser Arafat an enemy and waged its most direct attack on his Ramallah headquarters in 18 months of conflict. Israeli troops smashed into his compound on Friday, triggering gunbattles in which at least six Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed. Egypt's presidency called on Israel to "stop its aggression against the Palestinians immediately and warned it that the new, repeated attacks on the Palestinian territories would have fatal consequences and lead to a vicious circle of violence." Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak , one of Washington's main Arab allies, urged President Bush to get personally involved to stop the escalating crisis, the official MENA news agency said. "What (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon is doing is a foolish, illegal action and a message of war and aggression against Arabs in response to a message of peace from the Arabs," Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said on his return from Beirut, where he had attended an Arab summit. A peace plan endorsed at the summit proposed normalizing Arab ties with Israel if it returned occupied Arab land and allowed the creation of a Palestinian state. "Sharon has declared war, but it is a war he cannot win because the will of the people is stronger than Israeli tanks," Maher said. He said later Israel bore the responsibility for Arafat's safety and warned it that any steps against the Palestinian leader would have dire consequences. Foreign ministry sources said Maher later summoned Israel's ambassador to Egypt, Gideon Ben-Ami, and "emphasized the need to stop the aggressive measures" against the Palestinians. MENA said Mubarak spoke to Arafat on Friday to discuss the "dangerous situation the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) is facing." PROTESTS ERUPT In Cairo, worshippers demonstrated against Israel and in support of the Palestinians after Friday prayers at the central al-Azhar mosque. Some chanted: "With our spirit and our blood, we are willing to sacrifice ourselves for you." Others called for the expulsion of Israel's ambassador. Al-Azhar's Grand Sheikh Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, one of Egypt's top clerics, called on the Palestinians to persevere and have faith in God, saying that was the way to victory. Foreign ministry sources said Maher had spoken to U.S. and French officials and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) by telephone and urged the international body to take steps to contain the deteriorating situation in the region. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa criticized what he called "Sharon's response to the Arab peace initiative." The Arab League said Moussa had discussed the crisis with Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites). Egypt also announced on Friday the cancellation of a planned meeting at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh next month between Israeli parliamentary speaker Avraham Burg and his Palestinian counterpart Ahmed Korei, saying the spiraling violence had made it irrelevant. Sharon launched his latest offensive against the Palestinian Authority after a suicide bomber killed at least 20 people at a hotel on Wednesday in the Israeli coastal resort of Netanya. Hours after the raid, a Palestinian blew herself up in a Jerusalem supermarket, killing two and wounding at least 20. story.news.yahoo.com