G8 silent on Arafat

JERUSALEM - Israel's Army maintained its siege of the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Hebron as the Western powers kept up pressure on Yasser Arafat to make democratic reforms on the path to a Palestinian state.

But in a formal communique issued after their summit in Canada, the Group of Eight (G8) industrial nations noticeably failed to echo this week's call from US President George W. Bush for Arafat to be replaced as Palestinian leader.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres seemed to distance himself from his hardline coalition partner and Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, by saying he could still work with Arafat.

"We stressed our commitment to work for peace in the Middle East, based on our vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side within secure and recognised borders," the G8 said in a concluding statement at Kananaskis.

"We agreed on the urgency of reform of Palestinian institutions and its economy, and of free and fair elections."

In a key policy speech on the Middle East this week, Bush said Arafat must be replaced by a leader "uncompromised by terror".

He rammed home the point later, saying US financial aid to the Palestinians would be contingent on their embrace of reforms and rejection of terrorism.

Yesterday, the US State Department fell in line with the White House after repeated differences on the Middle East, and said it too was putting no hope in Arafat to carry out reforms.

But while echoing US demands for democratic reforms and an end to violence and corruption among Palestinian officials, some other Western leaders hesitated to fully endorse Bush and Sharon's demands for the replacement of Arafat, one of the Arab world's few democratically elected leaders.

The Palestinians had responded on Thursday by confirming plans to hold elections in January, which opinion polls indicate Arafat is likely to win.

Before the G8 issued its statement, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said: "Many people are convinced that Arafat should make a generous gesture and move aside."

And German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said G8 leaders had few quibbles with Bush's policy.

But there was no mention of a new Palestinian leadership in the communique issued by all eight nations - France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Italy, Britain, Russia and the United States.

In Israel itself, Peres, whose leftist Labour Party is a junior partner in Sharon's broad coalition, told the BBC that he could still work with Arafat as head of the Palestinian Authority if he was prepared to adopt sweeping reforms.

"If he would do it, yes," he said. "It is not an abstract question. If Arafat would reform, the whole thing would lose its urgency."

Buoyed by the tougher US line against the Palestinians, Israeli forces kept up their siege of the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Hebron, the seventh West Bank city re-occupied by Israeli forces after a spate of Palestinian suicide bombings.

The Army fired missiles at a Government compound in Hebron in an effort to dislodge suspected militants holed up inside for the past three days. Helicopter gunships fired at least four times, causing severe damage and leaving some of the walls blackened, witnesses said.



Elsewhere in the West Bank, Palestinian witnesses said soldiers opened fire in a market in the centre of Qalqilya during a break in the curfew, wounding three young Palestinians, including a 10-year-old boy who was critically hurt.

In the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, a 19-year-old man was killed when troops fired on stone-throwers. The Army said soldiers shot at the man because he was planting an explosive device.

At least 1427 Palestinians and 548 Israelis have been killed since the start of a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in September 2000.

- REUTERS

Feature: Middle East

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