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| Middle East |
| Arafat Calls for Halt to Attacks |
| 2002-06-20 |
| Yasser Arafat appealed to Palestinian "militias" Thursday to halt attacks on Israeli civilians, after two suicide bombings over two days killed 26 Israelis and prompted Israel to send troops back into five West Bank towns. "Cheese, you guys! Knock it off! Next time they're gonna martyr me!" The back-to-back bombings in Jerusalem prompted President Bush to put his prescription for Palestinian statehood on hold, but he remained confident that Mideast peace could be achieved. Bush has repeatedly demanded that Arafat do more to stop terror attacks, as a step toward resuming peace efforts. The bombings were designed to put the announcement on hold, so they accomplished their purpose. Arafat condemned attacks on Israeli civilians in a statement Thursday and said shootings and bombings "must be completely halted." Otherwise, he warned, the result might be "full Israeli occupation of our lands." "And then where would we be? I'll tell you where we'd be: Mauretania, that's where! You ever been to Mauretania? You don't wanna go to Mauretania, Mahmud!" Arafat said later that he'd called for the halt in attacks because, "we are against killing any civilians, whether Palestinians or Israelis." But he said Israel, through its military actions, was "preventing all our efforts" to end the violence. Arafat did not say how he would rein in the militias. Israel has accused him of doing nothing to stop attacks and even encouraging them. "Yeah. Really. I mean, this is not my usual, pro-forma request to knock it off, followed by a brag in Arabic. I mean, that stinkin' tank shell was really close." The Islamic militant group Hamas said it would not stop the bombings. "Nobody put a tank shell through our bedroom." "If we have an effective weapon in our hands and the whole world is trying to take it off us, this kind of reaction shows it to be the most effective way," said Ismail Abu Shanab, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip. Either that or the entire world's trying to get you to stop being lunatics. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |