Arab world waits for Russia to define its Middle East role
Regional, Analysis, 9/27/1997

Since the Israeli Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu stated that Israeli security forces had indentified four of the five suicide bombers involved in attacks on Jerusalem during the past three months, it has become clear that the American administration has adopted the Israeli stands, forgetting its interests in the Middle East region.

The United States reacted to the Israeli findings by putting more pressure on Arafat. "Right now, what we've seen coming out of Israel points to the responsibility of chairman Arafat in the area of terrorism," State Department spokesman James Rubin said. "Efforts on the part of Arafat to combat terrorism can make a difference because it does appear that the people who committed these acts were, at least at one point, in the hands of Palestinian Authority."

Reports have said that the men had been in a Palestinian Authority prison and either walked away or escaped. But although the areas the bombers came from were under Palestinian civil control, they were under the security control of Israel.

And now, the Arab world has been forced to wait for a new Russian role in the Middle East. So, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visited Russia to seek a revival of Russia's role in the Middle East.

"Russia's presence in the region, and in the Middle East in particular, is clearly insufficient," Yeltsin conceded.

"We must have a constant high-level presence there." The Russian president also said the deadlock in the peace process was due, "mostly to unconstructive stance of Israel."

He defended Palestinain leader Arafat, saying it would be "ridiculous" to blame him for the recent acts terrorism in Israeli.

Previous Stories:
  Al Gore meets Egyptian leader in Russia   (9/24/1997)
  Mubarak in Russia next Monday   (9/19/1997)

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