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| Middle East |
| Sharon vows to bar release of Sa'adat |
| 2002-06-03 |
| Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is "taking all necessary steps" to prevent the release from prison of Ahmed Saadat, the alleged ringleader of a group convicted of assassinating Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi. Sharon spoke to the Likud Party in the Knesset Monday hours after a Palestinian tribunal in Gaza City ordered Saadat, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, freed from a jail in the West Bank town of Jericho. A Palestinian security court, sitting in Gaza City ordered Saadat's release, responded to an appeal by three lawyers. When the decision was announced, dozens of PFLP supporters waiting outside the court cheered. Yasser? Bad faith? Break an agreement? Never! Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer called the Palestinian ruling a violation of an agreement, and warned that if Saadat is freed Israel "sees itself as being released from its commitments." Ummm... Yasser's already out of his office. He may even have had a shower by now... Ze'evi's successor as Moledet Party leader, MK Benny Elon called on Sharon to order Saadat killed if he is released. I'm with Benny. Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has reportedly not yet decided whether to honor the ruling and free Saadat. "Mahmud, look out and window and tell me where the tanks are!" |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |