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| Middle East |
| Yasser puts a good face on being snubbed... |
| 2002-10-20 |
| Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (1929-2002?) was dismissive of his glaring absence from the itinerary of touring US envoy Williams Burns, but acknowledged he had not yet seen a US-backed roadmap for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Asked to comment on the fact that Burns, making a regional tour to discuss the latest blueprint for resolving the conflict, would not meet him, Arafat said: "I don't need to meet anyone. I am president Yasser Arafat." "I'm in charge. I'm not an ineffectual old fool. Really I'm not..." He said so far he and his ministers had not seen the plan, a new initiative led by a diplomatic quartet grouping the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, which aims at securing an independent Palestinian state by 2005 living side by side with Israel. "We have read about it in the media," said Arafat, whose replacement both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and US President George W. Bush have called for, dubbing the veteran guerrilla leader turned Palestinian Authority chairman an obstacle to peace. That's like dubbing a bullet in the forehead a headache... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |