Israel criticizes Palestinians over national unity meeting

Israel accused yesterday Palestinian President Yasser Arafat of being two-faced after he embraced a Hamas movement leader in a "national unity" meeting held on Wednesday August 20.

Arafat refused to bow to the Israeli pressures to round up what Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, called terrorist guerrillas. He organized "national unity" talks with Islamist groups instead, including the militant Hamas movement and Islamic Jihad to discuss ways of confronting Israel's "collective punishment measures."

"We say to Netanyahu, who threatens us with tanks, that we don't fear death," said Youssef Arafat, an Islamic Jihad representative, during the meeting.