Israel’s Likud party vetoes Palestinian state
By Soraya Sarnaddi Nelson
and Alfonso Chardy
Knight Ridder Newspapers
TEL AVIV (KRT) — In a defiant
political stand that could reinflame
passions throughout the Middle
East, Israel’s ruling Likud party vot
ed Sunday to oppose creation of a
Palestinian state.
The vote could outrage Arabs
and undermine Likud’s leader,
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, by re
vealing dissatisfaction with him in
his political base. Sharon opposed
the resolution but lost. The vote
also was a slap at President George
Bush, who has asserted repeatedly
that the end result of any successful
peace process must include an in
dependent Palestinian state.
While Likud historically has op
posed Palestinian statehood,
Sharon recently acknowledged that
it will be the inevitable conclusion
to any successful peace process.
Arab leaders say no peace with Is
rael is possible without it.
The Likud vote thus could fur
ther set back efforts to broker peace
in the region and could bolster
Arab claims that Israel is more re
sponsible than the Palestinians for
failure to stop the violence.
“What would really put Sharon
in a bind is if the Saudis can pres
sure the Palestinians to stop terror
attacks, then Bush and Sharon
might clash,” said Gershom
Gorenberg of the Jerusalem Re
port, a biweekly, centrist English
language magazine.
Meanwhile, Israeli reservists be
gan returning home Sunday from
Gaza after military officials post
poned a planned assault on the area,
headquarters for the Palestinian mil
itant group, Hamas, which claimed
responsibility for a suicide attack last
week that claimed 15 Israeli lives.
The reservists were called up on
an emergency basis last week hours
after the suicide bomber struck.
However, Israeli tanks remained
massed on the outskirts of the Gaza
Strip, a Palestinian-controlled area
of 1.2 million people that lies on
the Mediterranean Sea between Is
rael and Egypt.
At Likud’s central committee
meeting in Tel Aviv, Sharon tried to
stave off Sunday’s vote by calling
instead for the 2,000 party mem
bers to support the government.
“Any decision taken today on
the final agreement is dangerous to
the state of Israel and will only in
tensify the pressures on us,” he
said. “To make peace and preserve
Israel’s strength we must preserve
our relationship with our best
friend, the United States.”
But boos and hisses drowned
him out, and his motion lost 669 to
465. The anti-Palestinian state
question passed on an almost over
Chalk it up to Pride
Above: LGBTQA office manager Kristina Armenakis and fine arts senior Jessie Swimeley twirl around the EMU Amphitheater.
Below: Joseph Brandt, an environmental science major hangs out at a kickoff for gay pride events on Friday. ‘I hurt my foot ’
Brandt said, ‘ so now I have to figure out other ways to get around. ’
whelming voice vote.
Former Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu instigated the vote in
what the Israeli media described as
a bid to take Sharon’s job. Many
party members in the packed audi
torium, like Sasi Hubousku of Tel
Aviv, chanted support for Ne
tanyahu until they were hoarse.
“Sharon is not believable; tomor
row he’s left, today he’s right,”
Hubousku explained.
Netanyahu said an independent
Palestinian state could spell death
for Israel.
“A state could bring in weapons
for its solders without any limit. A
Palestinian state would control the
aquifer, which gives us 30 percent
of our water. ‘Yes’ to a Palestinian
jAL jAL .
state means ‘no’ to a Jewish state,
and ‘yes’ to a Jewish state means
‘no’ to a Palestinian state,” Ne
tanyahu said.
White House officials declined to
comment on the development in Is
rael, saying that it was a matter of
domestic politics. But they said it
would not deter President Bush
from his goal of a Palestinian state.
“President Bush is very clear
what his vision for the Middle East
is, and that is two states, of Pales
tine and Israel, living side by side
in peace and security,” White
House spokesman Sean McCorma
ck said.
© 2002, Knight Ridder/Tribune Information
Services.
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