JEDDAH/GAZA, 3 September — Saudi Arabia yesterday reaffirmed its support for the 11-month-old intifada during meetings between Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
During the meeting with Arafat, King Fahd reiterated “the Kingdom’s support for the Palestinian people in their just struggle against the savage Israeli aggressions, until they recover their legitimate rights.”
Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, who had a separate meeting with Arafat, also pledged the Kingdom’s full support to the Palestinians. Arafat had briefed the Saudi leaders on the worsening situation in Palestine due to the Israeli military campaign.
The two meetings were attended by Prince Nawaf, director of intelligence, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, foreign minister, Prince Bandar, Saudi ambassador to the United States, and Palestinian Minister for International Cooperation Nabil Shaath.
In occupied Jerusalem, Israeli soldiers assassinated two Palestinians in the flash point West Bank city of Hebron yesterday, providing a violent backdrop for efforts to arrange talks on ending more than 11 months of bloodshed.
Muhammad Ashur and Alaa Rifaya, both 22 years old, were assassinated early yesterday by Israeli troops, radio reported.
Israel also moved into autonomous Palestinian territory in the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Khan Yunis, with tanks taking positions two hundred meters inside the camp, Palestinian security sources said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres warned against unrealistic expectations that a meeting being arranged with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat would end the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. “We are looking for the right time and the right venue,” Peres said.
In Ramallah, a Palestinian Cabinet minister said yesterday that Palestinians were determined to continue their struggle for an independent state even if it took the current uprising into another year. “We will not yield,” Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told a news conference.
“The message of the intifada after one year is that the Palestinian people will continue their struggle for independence,” he said.
“Nobody, no power on this Earth will break our determination to achieve freedom and independence,” he said.
Meanwhile, automatic weapons fire from the Israeli-controlled Shebaa Farms border area yesterday hit south Lebanon, where Israeli warplanes were flying overhead, an AFP correspondent reported.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in an interview released yesterday that he fears a “regional war” unless the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is brought under control. He told the magazine Profil in Vienna that only way to control the conflict would be an initiative by “the entire international community”.
