GAZA CITY, 2 November — British Prime Minister Tony Blair last evening ended a grueling Middle East tour with appeals to Israel and the Palestinians to end more than a year of bloodshed, even as Israel assassinated two more suspected Palestinians.
Blair, who met the hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem before dashing south to meet Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Gaza City, called on both sides to end a year’s violence that has left almost 950 people dead.
"This cycle of bloodshed has to stop," Blair said. But while his visit drew a promise from Sharon to set up a negotiating team to prepare for talks once a total cease-fire is in place, Blair came away with little more than repetitions from the two leaders that the other was to blame.
Sharon, who expressed his full support for the US anti-terror coalition, told Blair bluntly he would not give an inch on security, as his helicopters killed two members of the Hamas movement. "I have always said that for true peace, the state of Israel is ready to make painful compromises but there will be no compromise when it comes to the safety and security of the citizens of the state of Israel," Sharon told a joint press conference in Jerusalem.
"We will continue to apply our right to self-defense," he added. And an official close to the extreme right-wing Israeli leader hinted that the United States and its close ally Britain were asking Israel to ignore "terrorism" in its backyard, while Washington bombs suspected terrorists in Afghanistan. "We don’t bomb countries, we go after specific targets," he said. Blair urged Israel to keep its security measures within the boundaries of international law, but said he understood the "pressure" Sharon and the Israeli people were under in the face of continued suicide bombings and attacks by Palestinian extremists.
In Gaza, Blair repeated his formula outlined two weeks ago when Arafat visited London that a viable Palestinian state must be created while Israel’s security is assured. Arafat showed his support for the global anti-terror coalition by immediately condemning terror suspect Osama Bin Laden’s call to Pakistani Muslims to resist the US-led strikes on Afghanistan.
But his message was given short shrift Wednesday by Syria’s Bashar Assad, who pointed to the West’s tolerance of "Israeli terrorism" against the Palestinians.
Referring to the strikes on Afghanistan, Bashar also said "we cannot accept the killing of hundreds of innocent civilians every day." The British press described Blair’s treatment at the hands of the Syrian leader as a humiliating setback for the anti-terror coalition.
Palestinian officials had said before the visit they were hoping for a "historic declaration, historic promise to put the Palestinians and Israelis on an equal footing." However, Blair merely repeated his call for both sides to stop killing each other and find a way back to the negotiating table, sooner rather than later.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks remained in five of the six Palestinian self-rule towns in the West Bank it besieged after Palestinian extremists assassinated a Cabinet minister. Downing Street officials said, however, that the trip and the personal contacts had produced more results than were publicly revealed. "What’s more important is what is said in private about the willingness to engage in the peace process, and the prime minister believes there is that willingness," an official said.
An Israeli human rights group yesterday slammed Israel’s security forces for doing too little to keep Jewish settlers from attacking Palestinians. The rights group B’Tselem said in a 25-page report that Jewish settlers have rioted and harmed Palestinian people and property to retaliate for Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians, at times without interference by forces on the scene.The Israeli Army said it tries to prevent settler violence and prepares for rioting after Palestinian attacks.
