International
Arafat looks to Bush for peace
LONDON
Feb. 7
. The Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat today said he hoped the U.S. President, George W. Bush would finish the work his father started to try to bring peace to the Middle East.
Hours before Mr. Bush was to meet the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon at the White House, Mr. Arafat told BBC radio he was happy to negotiate with Israel, but insisted there must be no new Jewish settlements in the West Bank and no expansion of existing ones.
"The main sponsors of the peace process are the Americans," Mr. Arafat said. "It started with President Bush, the father, with the (1991) Madrid conference, and we hope that President Bush, the son, will complete the mission of his father." Israel met its Arab neighbours for groundbreaking peace talks launched in Madrid in 1991 when George Bush Senior was U.S. President.
Mr. Sharon was expected to urge Mr. Bush to cut all ties with Mr. Arafat, whom Mr. Sharon regularly blames for Palestinian shooting and bombing attacks during an uprising over the past 16 months against Israeli occupation. Mr. Arafat said he was doing all he could to halt suicide bombings and shooting attacks by Palestinians, but complained of being cornered by a crippling Israeli military blockade on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Mr. Bush has not met the Palestinian leader since becoming U.S. President little more than a year ago. He has expressed disappointment with Mr. Arafat over an alleged attempt by Iran to ship weapons to Gaza. But Washington has maintained contacts with the Palestinian leader and has signalled it will do all it can to get the Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate peace again.
Meanwhile, Palestinian gunmen killed four Israelis in a raid on a Jewish settlement and Israeli warplanes launched a retaliatory strike on a Palestinian Authority building, wounding 11 persons.
An Israeli mother and her daughter, who had been taken hostage, were among the four killed by the gunmen at the Jewish Hamra settlement in the West Bank's Jordan Valley yesterday, Israeli radio and television stations reported. They said the incident apparently ended when an elite army commando unit stormed a house and killed a Palestinian gunman, but troops were conducting a house-to-house search for more assailants.
Israeli fighter planes fired two missiles at the Palestinian Authority's main headquarters in the West Bank city of Nablus in retaliation for the killing, the Israeli army said. Palestinian officials said 11 persons, mostly policemen, were wounded.
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