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Kerry warns Arafat
10/10/2004 16:39 - (SA)
Gaza City - US presidential hopeful John Kerry has warned that if he won next month's election there would be no reprieve for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
"We have been at this for a long time. Mr Arafat has proven his unwillingness and incapacity to be able to act as a legitimate partner in the peace process," Kerry said in a Florida campaign rally on Saturday.
Kerry also said his job if elected would be to "hold those Arab countries accountable that still support terrorists, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Aqsa Brigades, and others."
The Democrat hopeful also praised Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for his "courageous" plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip next year.
Speaking two days after bombings at two Egyptian Red Sea resorts that killed at least 34 people, most of them Israelis, Kerry warned that the Jewish state under attack.
"People are trying to continue to create havoc... Israel remains under assault, kids blown up on buses, people sitting at restaurants, trying to live their lives," Kerry said.
"I will not give one inch in our efforts to do that."
President George W Bush has riled US allies in Europe and the Middle East by refusing to deal with Arafat, saying he had links to terrorism and could not be trusted to make peace.
On Friday, in the second presidential debate Bush repeated his stern line on the Palestinian leader.
"I wouldn't deal with Arafat because I felt like he had let the former president down and I don't think he's the kind of person that can lead toward a Palestinian state," Bush said.
"People in Europe didn't like that decision," he said.
"But it was the right thing to do. I believe Palestinians ought to have a state, but I know they need leadership that's committed to a democracy and freedom, leadership that would be willing to reject terrorism."
Kerry said the proper posture for a US president was to help create conditions which would allow Palestinian leaders to emerge who could be trusted to build peace with Israel.
But he did not offer specifics on how his plan would differ from that of Bush, who amid escalating Israel-Palestinian violence has steered clear of playing the active role of his predecessor Bill Clinton.
- SAPA
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