Greece calls for Arafat guarantee
Greece yesterday urged the international community to guarantee the safety of besieged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, warning that the security of the entire region was at stake, as demonstrations were held over the weekend to express solidarity with the Palestinian people. Another one is scheduled for today. Foreign Minister George Papandreou postponed a visit to Israel that was to begin today, because it was not possible to secure his safe passage to Ramallah to meet with Arafat. Papandreou will leave today for Cairo. Prime Minister Costas Simitis and Papandreou condemned both the Israeli military action against Arafat and the terrorist acts by Palestinians that have helped fuel the crisis. Parliament speaker Apostolos Kaklamanis accused the Israelis of «genocide.» «The Greek government is following with special concern the latest dramatic developments, which place peace and stability in the broader Middle East region in immediate jeopardy,» Simitis said in a statement. «The military blockade and the operations by the Israeli army against President Arafat in Ramallah and the terrorist actions against innocent citizens in Israel have intensified the cycle of blood and violence and worsened the impasse in the region,» he said. «In these difficult hours, I call on the Israeli government to respect the UN Security Council Resolution calling for the withdrawal of the Israeli army from Ramallah, to guarantee the life and security of the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people and to lift the blockade,» Simitis said. «The international community, the United Nations, the European Union, but, above all, the United States, have the historical obligation to take immediate action,» he added. Simitis said Greece had close ties with the «people of Israel and the Palestinians and is ready to offer its services to halt the conflict and give the peace process a new opportunity.» Foreign Minister Papandreou summoned reporters early yesterday «to discuss these dramatic hours which all of us are following in the Middle East.» «I want to stress, as a foreign minister, that Greece has stood by the Jews at very difficult moments and the Greek people understand the pain of the families of victims of violence, especially in the last few days. And I expressed this in person to Shimon Peres today,» he said. «At the same time, I want to make a last-minute appeal to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres not to carry out the attack which we have been hearing about and that they themselves guarantee the security and life of President Arafat.» Speaker Kaklamanis also called for international intervention. «All the Greek people, the government, the parties, the Parliament, condemn this genocide which is being carried out in Palestine today,» he said. «The international community must stop this attack, this barbarous attack against a defenseless nation which seeks only to continue living in the land of its forefathers.» Conservative former Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis appealed to the international community to help achieve a solution. «Otherwise, both sides will be plunged in an inconceivable tragedy and everyone will lose.» Yesterday, about 50 Palestinians chanted anti-Israeli and anti-US slogans outside the Israeli Embassy. The Athens Labor Center and other groups will march from the Old University in central Athens to Parliament, the US Embassy and the Israeli Embassy at 7 p.m. today. On Saturday, a group of members of Parliament went to the Israeli Embassy to present a petition by 37 of them calling for international intervention and a Greek initiative. The embassy was closed. Ambassador David Sasson later said the deputies had ignored the lives of Israelis killed in the suicide bombings. «Are they simply looking for media coverage or are they really seeking a just peace?» Sasson asked. «People who want to be respected should respect others.»
