Al-Baz: Israeli operations went beyond all limits

In an interview with "Good Morning Egypt" program, Presidential Political Advisor, Osama Al-Baz stressed that the statement of US President Bush contained some positive as well as negative points.

Al-Baz said that the positive point in his speech is the importance he attached to putting an end to the conflict, adding that this indicates that Bush turned away from Sharon's concept that it is not an opportune time for starting final status negotiations.

"Bush has defined the would-be Palestinian State well. He said that it has to be efficient and able to carry out its political and economic tasks. He also asked Israel to go ahead with implementing Tenet plan and Michel report recommendations, underlining the importance of a political process for reaching a solution," the Presidential Advisor elaborated.

"As for the negative points, Bush regarded the current situation as an outcome of Palestinian terrorism and Arafat's wrong policy in supporting and backing terror. By so doing, Bush adheres strictly to the Israeli stance," he noted.

Al-Baz pointed out that these operations started when the Palestinian people lost all hope in realizing peace and getting rid of Israeli occupation.

"It is unreasonable to say that what Israel is doing is self-defense since self-defense, by logic, means that reaction must be equivalent to the action. On the contrary, Israeli operations went beyond all limits and can't be considered self-defense," he remarked.

Answering a question on US approval of applying Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, Al-Baz pinpointed that Chapter Seven is different from other stipulations for it makes the implementation of related resolution compulsory, not only for the part of the Security Council but also for any country.

"US foreign minister Colin Powel has to meet with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat because Arafat is the President elected by the Palestinian National Council and the Palestinian people as a whole," he noted.

"There must be a real political process that would result in establishing an efficient Palestinian state that is capable of surviving and maintaining political and economic prerequisites of the statehood," Al-Baz concluded.