Arafat: Israel Continues "Aggression" Despite Ceasefire

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, December 26, 2001

Arafat: Israel Continues "Aggression" Despite Ceasefire

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Tuesday accused the Israeli government of continuing its policy of "aggression on the Palestinians, despite the Palestinians declaration of halting armed and suicide bombing attacks on Israel.

Speaking to reporters after receiving a Christian delegation at his Ramallah office in the West Bank, Arafat said the Israeli policy of closure, siege, killing and house demolition against the Palestinians continued.

"Meanwhile we still implement our commitments to the ceasefire initiative," he said.

In a televised speech early last week, Arafat called on Palestinians to stop all armed attacks against Israel, and vowed to hardly crackdown on militants violating his ceasefire declaration.

His movement Fatah, as well as the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said in statements they accepted Arafat's calls and decided to halt all attacks against Israel.

Radical Islamic Jihad also announced on Tuesday that it decided to halt attacks into Israel, be part of the Palestinian national consensus, and reinforce the unity of the Palestinian people.

"We decided not to give Israel any excuse to practice pressure on the Palestinian (National) Authority, and let Israel destroy the Palestinian infrastructure," said Nafez Azzam, one of the Islamic Jihad leaders in the Gaza Strip.

"They (Israelis) have a military plan called the 'plan of hell and rolling operations' against the Palestinian people," said Arafat. "Therefore the world must move and send international observers to the region."

Meanwhile, the Palestinian National Authority said in a statement that it warns the Israeli government of continuing its security and military measures on the Palestinian territories.

The statement called upon the U.S., China, Russia, the European Union and the U.N. "to exert all needed efforts to help bring about calmness and resume the Middle East peace negotiations."

"Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had approve with no doubt that he is not responding to the international calls and initiatives to achieve calmness, implement the ceasefire deals and return back to the negotiation table," it said.

Palestinian sources in Ramallah said that Arafat chaired a meeting with members of the Palestinian negotiating team at his office to study the current situation and ways to resume the peace talks with Israel.

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