Hamas calls on Arafat reconsider policy

Founder of the Palestinian National Resistance Movement, Hamas, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin called on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to reconsider his positions, which bargain Yassin said with the Palestinian people's rights, and to join the Palestinian resistance.

In a news conference he held on Sunday in Tehran, Sheikh Yassin stressed that yesterday's separate meetings in London between Arafat and Netanyahu in the presence of representatives from the US and the UK, were doomed to failure and will receive the same fate met by previous meetings on the same issue.

Yassin criticized the U.S. as biased in favor of Israel, noting: "Washington is a dishonest and biased sponsor of the peace process." He also held Britain, which hosts the meeting, responsible for the what has befallen on the Palestinian people.

Also criticized were those who condemn the Palestinian patriotic operations against the "Zionist" occupation. He stressed that, "Israel is the one who practices terrorism against the Palestinian people."