Qureia strongly defends Arafat

[bemildred]

JERUSALEM--The incoming Palestinian prime minister issued his
strongest defense yet of Yasser Arafat, saying Friday that the United
States should treat him as a real partner and condemning President
Bush's refusal to deal with the Palestinian leader as only hurting peace
efforts.

Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qureia's criticism of U.S. policy signaled
that he will not challenge Arafat. Israel and the United States had initially
pressed for the creation of the post of prime minister in hopes of sidelining
Arafat, who they say is tainted by terror.

We don't seem to be making forward progress here.

---

Opposed were Israel, the United States, Micronesia and the Marshall
Islands. U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte called the resolution
imbalanced for not condemning specific Palestinian militant groups. The
United States vetoed a similar resolution at the Security Council this
week.

Notice it's "specific Palestinian militant groups" now.

Charleston.Net

[MariMayans]

1. sometimes I get the feeling..

that maybe the US should coddle them on these resolutions, like Israel isn't a rational, sane place and maybe someone does need to hold their hand and say "Mean, ole, bad world hates you, we know it doesn't make any sense but seriously, take the gun away from Arafat's head, come on now."

[Brucey]

2. Welcome to DU!

[MariMayans]

3. ...

:hi:

[newyorican]

4. Hey...

I did marry a Mayan...cool!

Welcome :hi:

[newyorican]

5. Bushco is still scratching it's...

collective head on the Abbas debacle. Qureia is not a hand-picked stooge as Abbas was, so that particular game has been cancelled.

Abbas was chosen to pacify the Palestinians under the pretense of a "road-map", while the Aparthied wall was being built at break-neck speed. Quite simply, Abbas was to be the warden of the Palestinian open-air prison.

[bemildred]

6. Mr. Abbas was never willing to pick a fight with Arafat,

either, and his basic position was much the same as the new guys',
although he did seem at the end to want to take at least a token
whack at the "terrorist networks", and he quit when that was
stalled too. A wise move IMHO, no point in staying on as a fig leaf
for the road to nowhere. Better they should all contemplate the
fact that things are stuck.

[bemildred]

7. Addendum ...

I don't disagree with what you say, I just never saw much
evidence that Mr. Abbas was willing to play the assigned role,
and it seems evident he quit when it became clear that no
actual improvement in conditions was going to be forthcoming,
and that Mr. Arafat was not going to go along with any
further concessions in hopes that the promises of the road map
would later materialize. One would think that the un-conciliatory
posture of the GOI and its more or less total failure to
take any but the most token of the steps stipulated in the road
map while continuing to violate its more important provisions was
a part of that decision to proceed with the war.

[dArKeR]

8. US stance on Arafat regrettable, says Qurie

Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Ahmed Qurie told a Palestinian newspaper that the White House stance on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is "regrettable" and harmful to a peace process with Israel.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=3&art_id=qw1064067841782B253&set_id=1