Arab, Islamic denunciation to Bush's ratification of bill on Jerusalem as capital for Israel; attacks against Palestinians
Palestine-USA, Politics, 10/2/2002

US President George Bush ratification of the Congressional bill which considers Jerusalem as a capital for Israel raised angry Arab and Islamic reactions which stressed that this decision is a "violation to the international law and a threat to the Palestinian people, the Arabs and to the Christians and Muslims."

Some of Washington's Arab allies acknowledged that Bush had stated that US policy on Jerusalem was unchanged despite the provisions inserted by Congress into the act that provides over $4 billion to run the State Department in 2003. But most Arab reactions reflected anger at what was seen as fresh evidence of U.S. bias towards Israel, which annexed Arab East Jerusalem, encompassing one of Islam's holiest shrines, after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war.

"This is an act against peace, an act of incitement," Palestinian Planning and International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath told Reuters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"It is against the commitment of the United States, contrary to international law, contrary to agreements signed by the United States.

This is really totally unhelpful and obstructs any move towards the peace process," he said, calling the U.S. legislation "an insult to the Arab and Muslim world".

The Palestinian resistance group Jihad said the move "reflects the frank antagonism of the U.S. administration toward the rights of Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs to Jerusalem, and reveals its outrageous bias for the Zionist usurper entity".

Meantime, the Israeli forces continued their attacks in the West Bank and Gaza, with more Palestinians killed and large damages inflicted under a continued military siege against the Palestinian cities, towns and camps.

One Palestinian citizen was killed by the Israeli tanks shells which broke into areas to the east of Gaza while Israeli snipers were positioned on Tuesday in positions overlooking the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in Ramullah after the Israeli forces occupied two buildings in front of the headquarters as a confirmation to the fact that the government of Sharon has implemented nothing of the UN Security Council resolution no. 1435 which calls for the withdrawal of its forces from all occupied Palestinian territories, in a new Israeli defiance of the will of the international community.

Meanwhile, the Israeli forces launched a vast campaign of arrest which targeted more than 32 citizens from Nablus, Jenin and Saeer under the pretext of resisting the Israeli occupation.

As one Israeli settler was wounded when his car was hit by stones of the Palestinian youth near Beit Amer village, and al-Quds group of the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement claimed responsibility for killing one Israeli soldier and wounding another on Monday in Nablus, the Israeli daily Haaretz admitted that the Intifada resulted in the evacuation of many settlers from the settlements and the reduction in the number of new settlers coming to Israel.

The paper said that 20,000 settlers left the settlements of the West Bank and Gaza during the two past years noting the many of the Israeli settlements are empty because of the increased migration and the reduction in the migration balance at 63% during the first year of the Palestinian Intifada.

On the other hand, the PA stressed that the decision of the US Congress which considers Jerusalem as a capital for Israel is a violation to the international legitimacy and a threat to the Palestinian people, the Arabs and to Muslims and Christians in the world.

In a statement, the Palestinian Authority called on the US President George Bush to stop this non- obligatory decision and the need of confirming the American stances which commit to the UN Security Council resolutions on ending the occupation and considering not legal the annexation of Jerusalem.

On Monday, the US President signed a document proposed by the Congress makes it obligatory for the US administration to identify Jerusalem as a capital for Israel. However, President Bush confirmed in a message to the Congress he coupled with the text of the law that signing this document does not mean adopting all its items, including the status of the occupied city of Jerusalem which should be settled, as he said, through negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel.

In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference OIC Abdul Wahid Balqaziz expressed his deep concern over the US President signing of a law that makes its obligatory for the US administration to consider Jerusalem as a capital for Israel.

In a statement issued in Jeddah, OIC headquarters, Balqaziz expressed regret over this decision which was alwways rejected by previous US administrations, noting that taking this decision at the present time when Israel is launching an unprecedented aggressive campaign against the Palestinian will provoke the feelings of the Palestinians.

He stressed that this new American decision is totally in contradiction with the UN Security Council resolutions 465, 476 and 478 of 1980 which consider null and void the Israeli laws stating Jerusalem as a united capital for Israel.

Previous Stories:
  Continued Israeli acts of killing in the occupied Palestinian territories   (10/1/2002)
  Israeli government redeploys tanks in Ramullah, imposes curfew   (9/30/2002)
  Israel killed 1897 Palestinians since the beginning of the Intifada   (9/27/2002)
  Yet another meaningless resolution from the United Nations that is not enforceable or honored by Israel   (9/25/2002)
  Haaretz: US transfer of consulate from East to West Jerusalem   (8/7/2002)
  A new US strategy in the Middle East   (11/16/2001)
  US NGO urges president not to relocate embassy in Jerusalem   (2/2/2001)

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