Annan urges Arafat to crack down on terror

[drdon326]

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Yasser Arafat on Friday to give Israel's Gaza pullout plan a chance, saying Palestinians should crack down on terrorists to help revive a broader peace effort, Reuters news agency reported.

In unusually tough language, Annan - in a letter obtained by Reuters - also criticized the Palestinian Authority Chairman for failing to meet obligations under the road map plan including security reforms and putting an end to suicide bombings.

He said Israel must carry out its road map requirements to dismantle Jewish settler outposts and freeze construction in larger, established settlements.

"You are aware...that the Palestinian side too has obligations it has not fulfilled," Annan told Arafat. "The Palestinian Authority should immediately start taking effective measures to curb terrorism and violence."

"Decisive actions on your part would help the international community ensure that any withdrawal from Gaza is part of the implementation of the road map and not a substitute for it," he wrote.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1083302158336&p=1078397702269

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golly gee whiz, kofi.....a little late in the day ??

[Jim Sagle]

1. Yes, but it's still a welcome development.

[drdon326]

2. Jimbo....I love ya, man....

but the mild spanking of the weasel leaves me underwhelmed.

[The Magistrate]

3. Still, Doctor

It could be the beginning of something useful.

What seems to be looming in the situation is the outline of something that has been clearly discernable for a long time. Diplomacy here has been based on two propositions: that the Arab Palestinian leadership was interested in negotiating for a peaceful resolution, and that a cessation of the fighting could only come from from negotiation with the Arab Palestinian leadership. The reality of power has long been that a government of Israel could impose by force majure any "settlement" it chose to enforce, however equitable or otherwise this might be, and by doing so achieve at least a great dimunition in the violence to which its citizens were exposed. Sharon seems to be seriously considering action on the line of power, which must produce some serious attempt by the diplomats to vindicate their own course, or accept its abandonment as a guide for action.