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Israel-Palestine
Solana visits camp in Gaza and calls for end to attacks
2005-01-13
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana joined new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's call for an end to rocket attacks on Israel Wednesday as he toured a Hamas stronghold used as a launchpad by militants. On a visit to Gaza's impoverished Jabaliya camp after talks with Abbas, Solana said he was "moved" by the plight of poverty-stricken residents and said the new leadership would do its utmost to revive the peace process. Stumbling over rubble and viewing razed homes left by Israel's incursions into northern Gaza in a bid to stem rocket attacks last October, he described what he saw as "very dramatic" and later as "very moving" on his first visit to the camp.

"Rockets should not be fired. Point number one. But the amount of destruction is to my mind, now that you see it with your eyes ... disproportionate. Those responsible are not the ones who have been punished," he said. Two children and two teachers from a UN-run school that Solana visited, had been killed in the recent incursion. "You have opened a new page by the electoral process and you can be sure that the new president and the new structures are going to do the utmost to recuperate ... the process of peace," Solana told Palestinian reporters. Aides said he was on a fact-finding mission, to see the situation on the ground in Gaza to meet Palestinian MPs and civil society representatives.
Posted by:Fred

#8  Would any of you buy a used car from Solana ?
Posted by: EoZ   2005-01-13 6:14:12 PM  

#7  "...as he toured a Hamas stronghold... Stumbling over rubble and viewing razed homes..."
Build a wall around them and the deluded think they have a stronghold.
Posted by: Tom   2005-01-13 4:34:17 PM  

#6  Never misses an opportunity to display irrelevance.
Posted by: Captain America   2005-01-13 4:28:53 PM  

#5  Putz--Good word to describe Arafat. It may also describe Abbas who is practicing Arafat politics as far as I can tell. As the Who said: "New Boss Same as the Old Boss." Putz is one of those great Yiddish words that is rich in meanings. In English it can mean dickhead or screwup. It has many literal translations.
Posted by: John Q. Citizen   2005-01-13 10:28:19 AM  

#4  "...maybe Arafat was just such a putz that we find a real leader difficult to imagine."
If we're having trouble with the concept, the Palestinians must be practically catatonic at trying to grasp the whole notion.
Posted by: Sgt. Mom   2005-01-13 10:22:03 AM  

#3  EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana joined new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’s call for an end to rocket attacks on Israel Wednesday as he toured a Hamas stronghold used as a launchpad by militants.

So was Solana able to that cesspool without a scratch after calling for something that Paleos don't necessarily agree with?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-01-13 1:39:03 AM  

#2  good point = JFM

Those responsible are not the ones who have been punished In a strange sort of way, he's grasping the problem.

Abbas' positive actions seems too good too be true, and I'm a true believer that too good to be true is a blazing red flag. But maybe Arafat was just such a putz that we find a real leader difficult to imagine.
Posted by: 2b   2005-01-13 1:19:02 AM  

#1  "He was moved by the poverty-stiken residents"

Why wasn't he moved by the poverty-striken non-muslim or non-Arab Soudanese? And given the zillions the EU is giving to the Paleos, he should have asked how is that the palestinians are still poor (ie who is poceketing the money?). That is what he should have told and done instead of "being moved. Old hypocrite.
Posted by: JFM   2005-01-13 1:00:45 AM  

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