Word: yasser
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Silvio Berlusconi likes to think big. At an emergency European Union meeting last year, held to draw up a response to Israel's siege of Yasser Arafat's Ramallah compound, the Italian Prime Minister had other things on his mind. "I have a solution to the vision of Europe," said Berlusconi, who had just returned from Moscow after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We must make Russia a member of the E.U." The foreign ministers in the room were flabbergasted, according to a diplomat who was there, not only because Berlusconi was ignoring the issue at hand, but because...
...little more than the roadmap and the support of Israel and the U.S., he's unlikely to win a Palestinian civil war. Abbas has almost no independent political base, and his ability to deliver depends to a considerable degree on the extent to which he is able to win Yasser Arafat's backing - that may be the chief reason European and Arab diplomats have continued meeting with Arafat to win his support for implementing the "roadmap" despite Washington's official policy of ignoring the PA leader. And while U.S. officials have so far avoided a face-to-face meeting...
...fine words--five Israeli soldiers and 18 civilians were killed by Palestinian gunmen and suicide bombers, and 23 Palestinians were killed by Israeli missile attacks designed to eradicate the leadership of the terrorist group Hamas. Of the Palestinians killed, 14 were civilians, including the wife and baby daughter of Yasser Taha, whom the Israelis described as a Hamas activist. The death toll might have been higher; on June 10 an Israeli missile attack on vehicles in Gaza wounded but did not kill Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a longtime leader of Hamas, which, according to Israeli figures, is responsible for the deaths...
...impressed Sharon even before he became Prime Minister. To kill Hamas operatives, Dichter had his agents hide explosives in telephone booths and car-seat headrests; he pushed them to cut planning time for operations from months to mere hours. Dichter and Sharon share the same view of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat: he is useless as a partner to Israel. The Shin Bet chief recently recalled a meeting with Arafat in 1996, amid an earlier Hamas bombing campaign. Arafat asked Dichter how he could improve the situation. Dichter, who is fluent in Arabic, replied that Arafat should arrest Mohammed Deif, then...
...After two weeks of the roadmap process, there's a tacit acknowledgment of the limits of Abbas's own authority. Yasser Arafat plainly remains in charge of the PA, and his endorsement remains essential if Abbas is to have even a remote chance of delivering on the security requirements of the "roadmap." Tuesday's reports that Israel is considering freeing Marwan Barghouti - the West Bank Fatah leader accused by Israel of running the movement's militias and terror groups - is a further indicator that those orchestrating the roadmap process are aware that the only workable cease-fire is one endorsed...