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WORLD
Thursday, January 30, 2003 THE BATTALION
Re-elected Sharon refuses peace talks
By Greg Myre
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JERUSALEM — A day after
his election victory, Ariel
Sharon on Wednesday rebuffed
an offer by Yasser Arafat to
resume peace talks — an indica
tion the Israeli prime minister
will stick to his tough policies in
his second term.
In Tuesday’s vote, Sharon
won a ringing endorsement for
his military crackdown on the
Palestinians, and his right-wing
supporters want to see him take
an even tougher line. However,
an Israeli government dominat
ed by hawks could lead to fric
tion with the United States.
The composition of
Sharon’s coalition will shape
the next round of the Mideast
confrontation.
If he builds a right-wing
coalition with his natural allies,
he’ll find himself surrounded by
Cabinet ministers advocating
explosive measures such as
sending Arafat into exile.
If he persuades moderate
and centrist parties to join him,
the debate could shift to a U.S.-
backed peace proposal that
calls on Israel to make such
concessions as freezing the
growth of Jewish settlements in
the West Bank and Gaza and
agreeing to an eventual
Palestinian state in those areas.
Commenting for the first
time on the Israeli vote, Arafat
said Wednesday that he was
ready to resume peace talks.
Asked by Israeli TV’s Channel
10 if he was willing to meet with
Sharon, his longtime nemesis,
Arafat said: “Tonight. If he’s
ready. I’m ready.”
Sharon’s office said in
response that Arafat funds and
encourages militants attacking
Israelis and that the Palestinian
leader “is not and will not be a
negotiating partner.” Israel will
only negotiate with Palestinians
not involved in violence, the
statement said.
Sharon, who spent
Wednesday at his Negev Desert
sheep ranch, says he wants a
broad “unity government” but
that may prove impossible. The
Labor Party, which backed him
for 20 months until bolting in
November, says it’s headed for
the opposition.
Sharon’s Likud Party almost
doubled its parliamentary
strength, from 19 to 37 in the
120-member parliament.
Center-left Labor — the party
that founded Israel — posted its
worst-ever showing, dropping
from 26 to 19 seats. Labor advo
cates a return to peace talks,
even with Arafat.
Despite Labor leader Amram
Mitzna’s pledge not to join
Sharon, some say he could be
tempted by ideological conces
sions such as a stated willing
ness to dismantle some Jewish
settlements.
Labor’s elder statesman
Shimon Peres, who served as
foreign minister while his party
was in Sharon’s coalition, did
not rule out another broad-based
government, but only if it
moved toward peace. “A nation
al unity government is good, but
not if you’re marching in place,”
he told Israel TV.
Another potential partner is
Shinui, which rode a wave of
middle-class discontent with the
special privileges afforded to the
ultra-Orthodox, going from six
to 15 seats. But Shinui says it
won’t join Sharon if religious
parties are also in the govern
ment.
“There’s no doubt that the
Likud can go and establish a
right-wing, nationalist govern
ment based on yesterday’s
results,” said Limor Livnat, a
Likud Cabinet minister. “But
the prime minister has said all
the way that he supports with all
his heart ... a broad, national
unity government because the
challenges we are facing now
are especially difficult.”
Israeli commentators also
said Sharon wanted to avoid
Sharon scores big
in Israel election
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s
hard-line Likud Party nearly
doubled its strength, but faces an
uphill battle to form a unity
government.
120-seat parliament
■ Likud: 37
Labor: 19
Shinui: 15
Shas: 11
J—Smaller
parties: 38
Total hard-line parties
(including Likud and
Shas): 67 seats
44.2%.
Tol.il yJ
and centrist parties
(including Labor and Shinui): 53 se®
/Vofe. SW/ to be counted are soldiers'sK
diplomats' votes which could change It*
outcome slightly
SOURCE Associated Press W
limiting his political options. “A
right-wing government would
severely reduce the political
maneuvering in facing tht
Americans and make it difficuli
for (Sharon) to find a way out of
the economic collapse,” colum
nist Nahum Bamea wrote in the
Yediot Ahronot newspaper.
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JANUARY 31st
7:30 & 10pm
RUDDER AUDITORIUM
Europe forces new delay
for NATO military planning
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - NATO delivered
another setback to the United States on
Wednesday, again delaying military prepara
tions for a limited backup role should the
United States attack Iraq.
Washington wants NATO to prepare to
send planes and missiles to protect Turkey
NEWS IN BRIEF
from a possible Iraqi counter-strike, inten
sify naval patrols in the Mediterranean, fill
in for U.S. troops transferred from the
Balkans and plan for peacekeeping in a
postwar Iraq.
Backed by Belgium and Luxembourg, the
French and Germans say ordering military
preparations now would be premature and
could harm efforts by the United Nations to
disarm Iraq peacefully. Officials said the
U.S. proposals were not even discussed at
a meeting of the alliance's policy-making
North Atlantic Council, after the 19 allies
failed to agree in private talks on Tuesday.
"We will not let up in our efforts to
resolve this conflict without a war,"
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroedei
told a news conference in Berlin.Germany
and the other three holdouts first blocked
the decision last week.
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North Kom
unhappy
with Bush
TH
By Sang-Hun Choe
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea
North Korea accused the United
States on Wednesday of adopt
ing a “serpent” strategy to stran
gle the communist country
President Bush warned it v
suffer isolation and economic
hardship unless it abandons its
nuclear ambitions.
Meanwhile, a South Korean
presidential envoy returned from
Pyongyang and said
Korean negotiators reaffirmed
the dispute over their country's
nuclear activity can only
solved through direct dialogue
with the United States.
The envoy, Lim Dong-woft
returned to Seoul after waiting
in vain to meet North Korean
leader Kim Jong 11.
Lim ruled out any quick solu
tion to the nuclear dispute, say
ing it will be “a very long and
gradual process.”
In Washington, Bush said in
his State of the Union speed
heard in Asia early Wednesday
that the United States and othef
countries would not be “black
mailed” into granting conces
sions to North Korea by its
nuclear weapons development.
North Korea did not respond
directly to Bush’s speech. Bui
soon after it was delivered, tte
North’s official news agency
KCNA, released a commentary
saying Washington was using
the nuclear dispute as a pretext
to destroy the communist coun
try.
“This strategy is also dubbed
a ‘serpent’ strategy, as it is to be
carried out in the way a serpent
does, i.e., swallowing up the
object after strangling it,"
KCNA said.
While calling for talks witlt
Washington, North Korea accus
es the United States of planning
to launch a nuclear attack on the
communist state and trying to
stifle it through economic and
political pressure.
Lim had hoped to meet with
Northern leader Kim Jong II to try
to dissuade him from pursuing
nuclear weapons development.
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