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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scoobah who wrote (2805)	4/17/2002 12:22:15 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32591

U.N. human rights chief presses Israel on fact-finding mission Wed Apr 17, 7:37 AM ET GENEVA - The United Nations (news - web sites) human rights chief Wednesday urged Israel to let her travel to the country for a delayed fact-finding mission on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "It is important that the visiting mission should be able to leave as soon as possible," Mary Robinson, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement. She cited "growing concerns over recent events in Jenin" — the Palestinian refugee camp that was the scene of the fiercest fighting of Israel's 2 1/2-week-old military offensive. The Palestinians say there was a massacre in Jenin. Israel rejects the claim. The Israelis say about 100 Palestinians died, many of them militant fighters. Aid agencies and local people say hundreds of survivors and dead bodies are buried under collapsed buildings. Earlier this month the top U.N. human rights body voted to send the urgent mission to investigate the escalating violence between Israelis and Palestinians. The 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission said Robinson should report back before the end of its annual six-week session on April 26. But Israeli authorities have failed to approve the planned five-day visit by Robinson, who is expected to travel with former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and top South African businessman Cyril Ramaphosa. The aim of the mission is to examine the impact of the conflict on Israelis and Palestinians. Israel objected to the April 5 special discussion that produced the resolution forming the mission as just one more example of a one-sided attack on the Jewish state at the United Nations. But the resolution was amended by a last-minute Swedish proposal to make clear that the mission was to look into the impact of Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel, as well as on the Israeli military's actions in the Palestinian territories. Spokeswoman Veronique Taveau said Robinson's office was in "daily contact" with Israeli authorities, who earlier had indicated that the request for a visit was "under consideration." But, she said, "we have neither a yes nor a no." Taveau said Israel had cited "other important pending visits" as the reason for failing to allow Robinson to travel to the country. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) ended a 10-day Middle East peace mission Wednesday. story.news.yahoo.com

To: Scoobah who wrote (2805)	4/17/2002 12:36:40 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 32591

Egypt President Mubarak Cancels Meeting With Powell ( as the arabs did not get their way to eliminate Israel in stages) CAIRO (AP)--President Hosni Mubarak canceled a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell hours before the U.S. envoy arrived to wrap up a Mideast peacemaking tour Arabs have called a failure. Officials in the Egyptian president's office didn't say why the meeting, announced a day earlier, was canceled. Powell reached Cairo later Wednesday and went immediately into talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and visiting Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher. Mubarak's cancellation was announced before Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ended a meeting with Powell in the West Bank with an angry appeal to the international community to end the isolation Israel has imposed on him since March 29. Maher told reporters in Cairo he spoke with Arafat after Arafat met Powell. "It is no secret that there was a feeling of unease after the meeting," Maher said, adding that the Palestinian leader conveyed to him that the meeting "did not achieve its aim." Powell failed to get Israel to agree to a total pullout from Palestinian territories it began on March 29, though Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced a retreat from all but Ramallah and Bethlehem within a week. The U.S. envoy also failed to persuade Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to issue a cease-fire call, though Arafat did issue a statement condemning attacks on civilians, including a recent Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem. Powell also visited Syria and Lebanon. There, he expressed concern border fighting between Israel and Syrian-backed Lebanese guerrillas could spark wider Arab-Israeli violence. Syria and Lebanon blamed Israel, and Lebanon and its Hezbollah guerrillas said the attacks on Israel would continue. Nonetheless, the Israeli-Lebanese-Syria border area has been calm since shortly before Powell's visit, indicating quiet acceptance of Powell's call for restraint. During his trip, Powell took up Sharon's proposal for a regional peace summit, an idea derided by Arabs who see it as a way to renege on previous peace commitments. Egyptian Foreign Minister Maher was quoted as saying that Egypt welcomes the idea, adding "what is important is that any move builds on the previous moves." Protesters across the Arab world have been calling on their leaders to take action against Israel and increase pressure on the U.S., the main sponsor of the peace process. Moderate leaders like those of Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab states with peace treaties with Israel, have been challenged to show their contacts with the Jewish state can serve Arab interests.