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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (48069)	9/29/2002 7:40:58 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Nadine: From today's Miami Herald (Hi KLP), Israel licking its wounds read the headlines. "The whole world is always against us," Sharon was said to have replied. IMO, is that anything like Nixon's "now you won't have Dick Nixon to kick around" lament? : Israel ends Arafat siege By JEFFREY HELLER Reuters JERUSALEM - Israel licked its political wounds after ending its siege of Yasser Arafat under White House pressure to avoid upsetting U.S. plans for possible war on Iraq. Blowing kisses and making a V-for-Victory sign, the Palestinian president emerged from his battered compound on Sunday in the wake of clouds of dust from tanks retreating from a 10-day-old blockade that drew international condemnation. The pullback was an embarrassing climbdown for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government, which sent armor roaring into the sprawling West Bank complex on September 19 after back-to-back Palestinian suicide bombings killed seven people in Israel. Sharon had vowed to end the siege -- his latest attempt to sideline a leader Washington says should be replaced by Palestinians "not compromised by terror" -- only when Arafat turned over 50 suspected militants holed up with him. "The assessment was that we would be able to isolate Arafat," Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin, a member of Sharon's right-wing Likud party, told Israeli television. "To our great sorrow, we cannot always get everything we want." The about-face followed a message by President Bush to Sharon demanding a speedy end to a siege the United States apparently feared could raise regional tensions and hurt its efforts to win international support for war on Iraq. "We correctly preferred to give a boost to the matter of an American attack on the Iraqis over something we can always do later," said Ephraim Eitam, an ultranationalist member of Israel's cabinet. But Bush's rare rebuke appeared to signal a new dynamic in Sharon's close relationship with the president and in the prime minister's policy toward the Palestinians, who have accused the White House of turning a blind eye to Israeli army clampdowns. ISRAEL MUST WEIGH OPTIONS Before launching any future action against Arafat or a possible Gaza offensive against militants, Sharon would have to weigh the almost certain anger such moves would trigger in Washington as it prepares to confront Saddam Hussein. The White House said Bush welcomed the Israeli pullback, which Arafat called deceptive because Israeli forces remained in Ramallah -- still under night curfew -- and other West Bank cities reoccupied in June after suicide bombings. "All parties need to live up to their responsibilities to promote peace, stability and reform in the Palestinian Authority," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. Hundreds of elated Palestinians rushed to the presidential complex in Ramallah after Israeli tanks pulled back from the compound they invaded 10 days ago. The Palestinian flag was raised above a partly demolished building in the sprawling complex that Israeli armored bulldozers and explosives largely reduced to rubble in what Israel had hoped would be a blow to Arafat's prestige. Instead, Palestinians rallied nightly in the West Bank and Gaza in support of a leader who had been under fire from his own people over the slow pace of reforms demanded by the United States as a condition for resuming talks on statehood. It was unclear how long Arafat's domestic political honeymoon would last, but he was clearly invigorated by the cheers that greeted him as he emerged from his sandbagged office block -- the only building the army left standing. Beaming at the crowd, Arafat raised his arms in a victory salute before returning to the office he has rarely left since June. ARAFAT COMPLAINTS AGAINST ISRAEL But in earlier comments to reporters inside, he said the Israelis had not complied with a September 24 U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate end to the siege and "expeditious withdrawal...from Palestinian cities." "This is not withdrawal," Arafat said. "This is only moving a few meters away. They are trying to deceive the world." He repeated a call for a "complete cease-fire," an appeal unlikely to lead to any breakthrough without agreement by militant Islamic groups that are dedicated to Israel's destruction and have rejected truce efforts in the past. At least 1,572 Palestinians and 601 Israelis have been killed since a Palestinian uprising for statehood began in September 2000 after peace talks stalled. Israel said its troops would stay close enough to the compound to prevent the escape of the 50 wanted militants it said were inside. But Israeli television showed armed men slipping away soon after the tanks pulled back. The blockade caused tension within Sharon's ruling coalition, where the center-left Labour Party maintains an uneasy partnership with right-wing and religious parties. "The whole world is against us," Foreign Minister Shimon Peres of the Labour Party was quoted by Israeli media reports as telling Sharon at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday. "The whole world is always against us," Sharon was said to have replied.