RIYADH/GAZA CITY, 30 October — Saudi Arabia yesterday urged the international community to stop Israel from terrorizing innocent Palestinian civilians. It also called upon peace-loving countries to force Israel to withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories.
Addressing the weekly Council of Ministers’ meeting, Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, urged the global community "to stand firmly in the face of state terrorism" practiced by Israel against the Palestinian people.
Prince Abdullah also emphasized the need to revive the Middle East peace process on the basis of the Madrid conference, UN resolutions and the existing agreements signed by relevant parties of the conflict.
Meanwhile, a top aide to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat yesterday demanded that Israel withdraw its forces from all the Palestinian towns it has besieged or entered, following an overnight withdrawal from Bethlehem.
Nabil Abu Rudeina said the pullback from Bethlehem was "not enough, they have to withdraw from all the towns they entered ... and find a real exit to the crisis." He was speaking in Gaza as Arafat headed off for Rome.
Palestinian officials also said that a high-level joint meeting between Palestinian security chiefs and their Israeli counterparts was due to start around 7:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) to discuss the possibilities of a further withdrawal. They did not say where the meeting would take place.
The officials said the meeting would be attended on the Palestinian side by intelligence chief Amin Al-Hindi, the head of preventative security for the Gaza Strip, Gen. Abdel Razaq Al-Majaida and possibly his West Bank opposite, Col. Jibril Rajoub.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said yesterday that Israel’s continued existence in the Middle East hinges on the creation of an independent Palestinian homeland.
"The creation of a Palestinian state on their land is the biggest guarantee for Israel if it wants to live in this region," the president told a gathering of Islamic scholars in Cairo.
"And there will be no solution except through negotiations," said Mubarak, adding that problems in the region could never be resolved by the use of force. "Strikes and killings" would only breed revenge and an unending circle of violence, he said. Both sides should implement the Mitchell Commission report on resolving the conflict and return to negotiations that would lead to a final settlement, he said. "The one thing that I cannot understand is, do they (the Israelis) want peace?" the president added.
In another development, the United Nations expressed "concern" yesterday over a new Israeli violation of Lebanese airspace last week, according to a statement from the UN information center in Beirut. Staffan de Mistura, the personal representative of the UN secretary-general in southern Lebanon, "has noted with concern that an Israeli military helicopter violated the Blue Line on Oct. 27, 2001," the statement said.
