BEIRUT, 24 April 2005 — Fatah chief Farouk Qaddumi said yesterday that armed Palestinian groups in Lebanon would not give up their weapons until Israel complies with dozens of UN resolutions issued against it. “There are 28 resolutions that have not been implemented” by Israel, the head of the mainstream Palestinian Fatah movement told reporters after meeting Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammud.
“Let Israel and the United States, which obstructs the implementation of these resolutions, implement them first, before asking us to implement other resolutions,” said Qaddumi. UN Security Council Resolution 1559, passed in September, calls for the pullout of all foreign forces from Lebanon as well as the disarming of all militias on its soil.
Leaders of Palestinian militant groups in Lebanon have repeatedly rejected the idea of being disarmed, saying Israel continues to be a threat. Israel has been the object of numerous UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions condemning its actions, which it ignores, usually dismissing the world body as biased.
Meanwhile, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plan to meet next month in what would be their first encounter in almost three months, officials said yesterday. The meeting, likely to be in early May, is set to focus on planning Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip later this year.
The prospect of settler resistance, the possible use of force by Israeli security forces and the likelihood of militant groups wanting to portray the withdrawal as a retreat under fire have created a delicate situation for Israelis and Palestinians. Right-wing settler leaders and rabbis have called for resistance in one form or another, with some calling on security forces to disobey orders to evict all 8,000 Gaza settlers and four isolated West Bank outposts. Sharon is also expected to announce a delay to the four-week withdrawal until the middle of August. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Palestinian Civil Affairs Minister Mohammed Dahlan said on Friday that they had set up joint committees to coordinate Israeli and Palestinian sides of the withdrawal.
Also yesterday, around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners launched a hunger strike over a suspension of family visiting rights, the Bethlehem-based Prisoners Club said. Meanwhile, Israel condemned a decision by Britain’s largest university lecturers’ union to boycott two Israeli universities for allegedly restricting academic freedom and teaching in illegal settlements. The Association of University Teachers decided Friday to blacklist Haifa University and Bar Ilan University at an annual conference, meaning no member of the 40,000-strong union will be allowed to visit either institution.
