Annan condemns 'targeted assassinations' by Israel
July 5, 2001 Posted: 7:09 PM EDT (2309 GMT)
JERUSALEM (CNN)
-- United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
called on Israel to stop "what have become known as 'targeted
assassinations'" of Palestinian militants, saying Thursday the
practice
violates international law.
In a statement, Annan's spokesman said the
secretary-general was "deeply disturbed" by the
Israeli government's decision to continue the
practice that "contradicts the spirit, if not the
letter" of the ceasefire negotiated by CIA
Director George Tenent.
Annan
urged both sides to reject violence, adhere
to security agreements already reached and work
toward implementing the recommendations of
the Mitchell report.
Also on Thursday, the United Nations envoy to
the Middle East said that U.S. attempts to get
Israel and the Palestinian Authority to observe a
"quick cooling-down" period had failed.
Envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said a third-party
referee was now needed to take Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority
President Yasser Arafat "by the hand and move
them forward."
"We
now have to face the hard facts that the
attempt to carry through a quick cooling-down over seven days has
failed," said
Larsen. "And I think also the situation illustrates that there is an
acute need for a
third-party referee.
"Arafat yesterday declared that the period successfully was over and
that we are
moving into the next period with political underpinnings,
confidence-building
measures, etc., while the Israelis are of the opinion that the seven-day
period
has not yet started. There is a complete discrepancy between the
perceptions of
reality here."
On a trip to the region last week, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
got the
two sides to agree to complete seven straight days without violence -- to
be
followed by a six-week "cooling-off period" when the two sides
would begin to
implement confidence-building measures.
However, he did not get an agreement on when that period would begin, and
the
region has remained in crisis with the two sides blaming each other for
not
honoring the cease-fire.
On the West Bank, Palestinian hospital sources said Thursday that one
Palestinian was killed and two others were wounded in a clash with
Israeli
troops near Ramallah.
The Israel Defense Force said that Palestinian gunmen opened fire on
Israeli
troops near the settlement of Psagot. The IDF said one soldier was
"lightly"
wounded in the gunfire and Israeli soldiers could see Palestinians had
been
wounded.
The incident occurred as Sharon, on a trip to Europe, met with officials
from
Germany and Belgium, urging them to put more pressure on the Palestinians
to
observe a cease-fire.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder advised Sharon to show "more
flexibility" on the issue of Jewish settlements.
Larsen said the reality is that without a third party to referee the
Mideast
situation,
no progress will be made.
"The hard facts we are facing now is that we cannot proceed without
some sort
of referee mechanism here, and we cannot proceed with the cease-fire
unless
there are political underpinnings," said Larsen, "which means
that
confidence-building measures have to be put very quickly into motion.
"Now the parties are conducting a dance of mortal dangers, at the
brink of the
abyss,
swinging back and forth, moving from crisis to crisis."
While both the Israelis and Palestinians have said they accept the
recommendations of the Mitchell committee for restoring peace in the
Middle
East,
Larsen said efforts to get the two sides to implement those
recommendations aren't working.
"The starting point is that both parties have accepted the so-called
Mitchell
recommendations, which is a bridge back from the instability and the
chaos that
we have here now, back to the negotiating table," said Larsen.
"But this bridge, according to the architecture of Mitchell, [has]
three
underpinnings, three pillars -- a political pillar, a security pillar and
an economic
pillar. Now what is trying to be built is only a very shaking security
pillar, and
it's about to crumble."
The Mitchell committee, a five-man, international panel headed by former
U.S.
Sen. George Mitchell, investigated Israeli-Palestinian violence and
issued a
report with recommendations aimed at resuming Mideast peace talks.
Larsen
called on both parties to agree to a "third-party mechanism" for
moving
the process forward.
"The differences between the parties are so deep that the only thing
that can
function here now is a third party which comes forward with
proposals," he
said, noting that polls show 80 percent of Palestinians want the intifada
or
uprising to continue.
"There is a need for a referee on the ground who can decide what are
the
relevant images of reality. When the Israelis are saying the seven days
have not
started and the Palestinians are saying the seven days have ended, then
it's
impossible to move forward. That's why we need a third party who can take
the parties by the hand and move them forward."
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