World - Reuters
Sharon: No Longer Bound by Pledge Not to Harm Arafat
Date: Fri, Apr 23, 2004
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) said on Friday he was no longer bound by a pledge he gave President Bush (news - web sites) not to harm Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (news - web sites). "I said during in our first meeting about three years ago that I accepted his request not to harm Arafat physically," Sharon told Israel's Channel 2. "But I am released from this commitment. I release myself from this commitment regarding Arafat."
Sharon said he told this to Bush last week during a meeting with him at the White House, where he received U.S. approval for his plan to unilaterally evacuate all settlements from the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and some in the West Bank.
Sharon gave no indication that any move against Arafat was imminent. Although the United States does not acknowledge the Palestinian leader, Washington is opposed to Israel killing him.
Shortly after Sharon's comments, the State Department said it stood by its opposition to the assassination of Arafat.
"Nothing has changed in the U.S. position and I will look at the statement and see what we have to say," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.
An advisor for Arafat, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said Sharon's statement would lead to increased tensions in the region.
"We reject Sharon's statement and demand clarification from Mr. Bush on such a statement and hold Sharon responsible for such a dangerous statement," he said. "This is an escalation and will lead to increased tensions."
Sharon's tough talk could go down well among members of his right-wing Likud party who will vote on his Gaza withdrawal plan on May 2.
Sharon's televised comments expanded on similar remarks he made in a newspaper interview several weeks ago.
SOURCE
FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.