- JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel
kept Palestinians in seven West Bank cities under the gun and threatened
to expand the operation to the Gaza Strip after a policy speech by President
Bush dealt another blow to Yasser Arafat.
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- The Palestinian president on Tuesday brushed aside Bush's
call for his people to replace him with new leaders "not compromised
by terror" as a condition for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
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- Israel welcomed Bush's speech on Monday as proof Washington
had joined Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's drive to sideline Arafat. A strong
undercurrent of scorn and disappointment ran through Arab countries.
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- While the world pondered what would become of Arafat,
the immediate future for Palestinians in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, Qalqilya,
Tulkarm, Nablus and Jenin meant Israeli reoccupation, curfew and searches.
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- Asked how long the army would stay in the cities they
entered after suicide bombers killed 26 people in Israel last week, Israeli
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said: "As long as it takes us
to fulfil our basic duty to our children."
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- Speaking on Israel's Channel One television, Ben-Eliezer
said that on Tuesday alone Israeli forces had seized explosives belts,
homemade rockets and "several terrorists and murderers of the first
order" in sweeps through the West Bank.
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- Echoing a threat by Sharon to launch operations against
the militant Islamic group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Ben-Eliezer said: "If
Hamas's activities reach an intolerable level, nothing will help and we
will have to go and fight it, too."
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- HAMAS VOWS CONTINUED RESISTANCE
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- Ismail Haniyah, a senior figure in Hamas, said Bush had
merely upheld the "Zionist occupation" and vowed continued resistance.
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- Hamas has killed scores of Israelis in suicide attacks
since a Palestinian uprising against occupation began in September 2000.
At least 1,425 Palestinians and 548 Israelis have been killed in the revolt.
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- In his Israeli-encircled headquarters in Ramallah, Arafat
appeared to refer to the plans he has announced for elections by early
next year when asked by reporters to respond to Bush's call for a new leadership.
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- "This is what my people will decide. They are the
only ones who can determine this," he said.
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- Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Tuesday the United
States would respect the electoral choice of the Palestinian people. If
they choose Arafat, he said, "we will deal with the circumstances
as we find them."
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- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters
Bush's call for Palestinian elections could backfire.
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- "You could find yourself in a situation that the
radicals are the ones that get elected, and it would be the result of a
democratic process, and we have to accept that," he said.
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- Bush laid out his vision for a provisional Palestinian
state to be set up after about 18 months under tough conditions, including
democratic reforms and a revamped security force.
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- A senior State Department official said in Washington
on Tuesday the United States wanted Arafat to lead the reform process but
step aside when his task reached completion.
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- "We know he is the leader...We would hope that he
would work himself out of a job," said the official, who asked not
to be identified.
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- ISRAEL SHOULD TAKE STEPS, TOO
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- But with many in the Arab world calling Bush's speech
tilted toward Israel, U.S. officials insisted Israel was expected to take
steps of its own to foster an atmosphere of peace.
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- Aides noted that the president called on Israel to pull
back its forces in the West Bank as violence subsides, lift restrictions
on Palestinian travel and release frozen Palestinian revenues.
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- "We view this as parallel tracks going hand in hand,
not as a sequencing sort of arrangement," a White House official said.
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- Radically differing reactions from the warring sides
to Bush's blueprint for peace underscored the depth of hostility that has
built up during nearly 21 months of bloodshed.
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- Ordinary Palestinians, who have long accused the United
States of bias in favor of Israel, minced no words.
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- "We also believe the Americans deserve a better
leader than Bush. He is an obstacle to peace," said Ali Mohammad-Ali,
a 35-year-old electrician, in Gaza.
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- Israeli Environment Minister Tzahi Hanegbi could not
have been more pleased with the U.S. leader.
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- "We will issue him an honorary membership card in
the Likud," he said tongue in cheek, referring to the right-wing party
led by Sharon.
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