MONDAY,SEPT.24.2001
WORLD
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A
Israel cancels peace talks until cease-fire holds
The Associated Press
JERUSALEM — Despite a decline in violence in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called off long-awaited truce talks yesterday and said Yasser Arafat should bring a complete halt to Palestinian attacks before any discussions could begin.
Angry Palestinians called the move "irresponsible," saying it undermined efforts by the United States and other foreign governments to calm tensions in a region wracked by a year of fighting.
"This is the behavior of a gang, not a responsible government," Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said of Israel's cancellation. Rabbo called on the United States, Russia and the European Union to pressure Sharon's government to hold talks.
Arafat, the Palestinian leader, declared a cease-fire Tuesday, and Israel immediately announced a halt to offensive military operations. Since then, one Palestinian and one Israeli have been killed. The two sides have exchanged fire on several occasions, and Palestinian militants have fired mortars in the Gaza Strip, but the level of violence has dropped.
However, Sharon is insisting on a full 48 hours without any unrest.
"These meetings can take place once there will be full cessation of terror and hostilities," he said in an interview with the Fox News Channel. "We did not ask too much."
In a speech last night, Sharon raised a topic he has rarely broached -- the possibility of a Palestinian state.
Sharon said Israel wanted to
give the Palestinians the opportunity to form a state, but that would require genuine peace between the two sides.
"We are not fighting the Palestinians, we are fighting terror." Sharon said at a speech at Latrun, in central Israel. "Israel wants to give the Palestinians what no one else gave them before, the possibility of forming a state."
Sharon has never given details of what he would be willing to offer the Palestinians. He has often said that long-term interim agreements were the best that could be achieved at present, and no final peace deal was possible for years, or even decades. The Palestinian们 have said they did not believe Sharon was serious about negotiating a full-fledged peace agreement that would include Palestinian statehood.
Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres have been
trying to arrange a meeting for a month, and had planned to meet yesterday. But Sharon called off the meeting, increasing friction between the himself and Peres, who has pushed for a series of talks with Arafat.
Peres skipped yesterday's Israeli Cabinet session, apparently to protest the cancellation of his meeting with Arafat, Israeli media reported.
Israeli media also said Peres was considering resigning his post, a move that could threaten the stability of Sharon's government.
Sharon's Cabinet appeared divided on whether Arafat had done enough to end the violence by Palestinians.
Cabinet Secretary Gideon Saar said Sharon thought a high-level meeting with Arafat was not appropriate while any Palestinian violence continued, because
it would "give legitimacy to certain types of terror."
Saar said the Palestinians had arrested but released Atef Abayyat, a leader of the Tanzim militia, which claimed responsibility for a shooting Thursday that killed an Israeli woman and wounded her husband.
Israel is demanding Abayat's re-arrest as well as other "meaningful steps against violence," said Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin.
Industry and Trade Minister Dalia Yitzhak criticized Sharon's decision to cancel the meeting, saying, "we must understand that Yasser Arafat now looks like a seeker of peace and we look bad."
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the Bush administration has been urging both sides to halt violence, a step seen as vital for American
efforts to enlist Arab nations in a coalition against international terror.
"I still have hopes that the meeting will take place in the near future," Secretary of State Colin Powell, who has been pushing for a truce, said on ABC's "This Week," on Sunday.
In another development, a Jerusalem court issued an extradition request for Marwan Barghouti, an outspoken Palestinian leader in the West Bank. There was no immediate response from Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
Barghouti's fiery calls for resistance against Israel have won him many supporters among Palestinian youths. Israel said he was responsible for two shooting attacks, one that killed a Greek monk and another that seriously wounded an Israeli.
Exiled king ready to help
The Associated Press
ROME — Afghanistan's exiled king stands ready to help his country form a transitional government if the Taliban are overthrown, a U.N. envoy said yesterday after meeting the ousted monarch.
Former King Mohammad Zahir Shah, 86, has no ambitions to return to his homeland as monarch, but "could play an important role in the future of Afghanistan," said Francesc Vendrell, the U.N. chief's personal representative for Afghanistan.
"He has told me of his wish to be of help to the Afghan people," he said.
Vendrell and Zahir met privately for nearly an hour at the royal exile's luxurious villa in a high-security gated community on the northern edge of Rome.
Zahir also plans to meet soon
with a delegation from his country's anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.
The flurry of contacts came as the United States was preparing to retaliate militarily for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.
Mirwais Shah, Zahir's son, said the royal family believed the terrorists who attacked the United States "must pay for what they did" but was worried about the Afghan people.
"The U.S. has to do what it has to do, but we are very worried about the innocents," he said.
His comments echoed those of his father in an interview published yesterday in the Rome daily La Repubblica.
In the interview, Zahir defended the Afghan people. Despite decades of conflict,
Afghans never resorted to terrorism, he said.
"In our homeland, his memory is still very alive," said Nasser Zia, ambassador in Rome for the government ousted by the Taliban in 1996, in an interview with Il Messaggio newspaper.
Zahir has long dreamed of convening a grand national assembly of Afghan leaders, including tribal elders, clerics, intellectuals and landowners, and the idea is gaining support.
Envoys of the United States, Iran, Germany and Italy have been meeting quietly since December to try to find a peaceful solution to the Afghan conflict. One of their key proposals is to convene the assembly, called a "loya jirga." Vendrell met with envoys of the four nations Friday in Geneva.
U.S. military denied air base
The Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia, apparently concerned about possible strikes on a fellow Arab state, has said the United States cannot use a major Saudi air base for an offensive against terrorism, a Saudi official said yesterday.
In Washington, the State Department praised Saudi military cooperation and said it looked forward to continued assistance from the kingdom.
A diplomat in Riyadh said the two sides were still negotiating.
Saudi officials, though, say the United States cannot use the Prince Sultan Air Base, south of the Saudi capital Riyadh, for U.S. retaliatory attacks.
Last week the U.S. Central Command's air
operations, Air Force Lt. Gen. Charles Wald, shifted his operations from South Carolina to the base.
"Saudi Arabia will not accept any infringement on its national sovereignty, but it fully backs action aimed at eradicating terrorism and its causes," said the official, who refused to be identified further.
A diplomat in Riyadh, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Saudis were negotiating with the United States over the use of the air base in the terrorism campaign.
The Saudis apparently are looking for assurances that the base would not be used for attacks on fellow Arab states.
The official noted that President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell have said
"there will be many facets to our international effort to bring to justice those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, including efforts in law enforcement, diplomacy and international finance.
"As we move forward,we will be looking to the Saudis and others for assistance in these efforts."
Saudi Arabia plays host to about 4,500 U.S. military personnel and an undisclosed number of warplanes at Prince Sultan Air Base.
The United States and Saudi Arabia have been close allies for more than half a century. U.S. troops have remained in the kingdom since leading the multinational coalition that ended Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1991