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03/16/2006:

"Abbas condemns Israel raid as unforgivable crime"

JERICHO, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday condemned Israel's raid on a West Bank prison and seizure of a militant leader as a crime that would not be forgiven.

Across the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Palestinians went on strike over an Israeli operation that has boosted interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ahead of March 28 general elections.

Israeli security forces were on high alert after Ahmed Saadat's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Islamist militant group Hamas promised retaliation.

Israeli forces used tanks and bulldozers to tear apart the Jericho jail on Tuesday to grab Saadat, accused by Israel of overseeing the 2001 assassination of Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi claimed by the PFLP.

Speaking at the destroyed jail, Abbas accused British and U.S. monitors supervising the incarceration of Saadat and five other militants who were detained of complicity with Israel.

"What happened is an ugly crime which cannot be forgiven and a humiliation for the Palestinian people and a violation of all the agreements. Their arrest by Israel is illegal," Abbas said.

The United States and Britain, citing security concerns, withdrew the monitors on Tuesday and Israeli forces moved in minutes later. Both Washington and London denied cooperating with Israel.
reuters.com


Blair defends withdrawal of monitors from Jericho jail
Tony Blair today laid the blame squarely at the door of the Palestinian Authority for yesterday's outbreak of violence across the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of British monitors from a prison in Jericho.
The prime minister told the Commons that he had personally warned the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, that the British personnel would be withdrawn unless security agreements were met.

During prime minister's questions, Mr Blair said there could be no long-term peace in the region until the Palestinian authorities were able to maintain law, and the incoming Hamas government recognised Israel's existence and put an end to violence.

"If people want progress towards a two state solution, which we have championed in this country - an independent viable Palestinian state living side by side with Israel - then the security within the Palestinian area is of prime concern," Mr Blair said. "We have done everything we can to support them. But we need some help back."

Just answer the question, Mr. Blair.


U.S. may veto bid for UN condemnation of jail siege
The threat of a U.S. veto hovers over planned closed-door deliberations Wednesday over Qatar's bid for a UN Security Council to condemn Israel's Jericho jail siege and its capture of the killers of former cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi.

A draft statement by Qatari Ambassador Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, representing Arab nations, would have condemned "Israel's violent incursion" in besieging the Jericho jail, and would have demanded that Israel return the prisoners it seized "and to return the situation to that which existed prior to the Israeli military attack."

Security forces went on high alert Tuesday fearing Palestinian reprisal attacks after Israel Defense Forces troops laid siege to the Jericho prison and arrested six wanted inmates.

A tense, gunfire-punctuated nine-hour IDF siege of a Jericho prison complex ended after dark on Tuesday with the abrupt surrender of Ahmed Sa'adat and five other Palestinian militants.

Sa'adat, leader of the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine, is believed to have ordered the assassination of cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi in a Jerusalem hotel in 2001.

One of the other militants was Fuad Shobaki, the alleged mastermind of an illegal mass weapons shipment to the Palestinian Authority in 2002.

The six arrested wanted militants are to be held in prison in Israel, officials said.

The PFLP threatened
that "Israel will pay a heavy price for the operation."