Arab League Suggests Severing Israeli Ties
May 19, 2001 -- The Arab League, a confederation of regional diplomats meeting in Egypt, is urging Arab countries to sever all political communication with Israel in the wake of airborne attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
"The meeting called for severing all Arabic political communication with Israel as long as the aggression of the siege on the Palestinian people and their national authority continues," said a statement issued at the end of the emergency meeting, the Associated Press reported.
The call was led by ministers from Egypt and Jordan, two countries that in the past have tried to mediate peace between Israel and the Palestinians. The meeting in Cairo also was attended by representatives from Bahrain, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen.
"Our intention is not to talk about or fall in the trap oftalking about peace proposals while we see that the Israeligovernment does not really mean it," said ArabLeague Secretary-General Amr Moussa, Egypt's former foreign minister, according to the Associated Press. "The attacks against the Palestinians will have to stop, otherwise we will beacting under the point of the gun which we totally and utterlyreject."
Two Days of Air Attacks
The declaration came after Israeli helicopters showered rockets into buildings used by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's security forces in the West Bank, the second airborne attacks on Palestinians in two days.
The Israeli plane and helicopter attacks were in response to a suicide bombing Friday by a Palestinian at a shopping mall in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya that killed the bomber and five other people.
In all, the suicide bombing, air attacks and clashes today and Friday are believed to have claimed the lives of at least 16 Palestinians and five Israelis.
Dozens were injured during today's air attacks in the West Bank towns of Jenin and Tulkarem, the home of the suicide bomber. Several buildings and police cars were destroyed, but no one was killed, a contrast with yesterday when 12 Palestinians died in Israeli air attacks.
However, three Palestinians were killed today in separate shooting incidents. One died in clashes with Israeli soldiers after tens of thousands turned out for the funerals of dead policemen in Nablus. Earlier in the day, a Palestinian policeman and a farmer died in separate incidents.
Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli authorities broke out throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip to protest Israel's air raids. In Hebron, Israeli soldiers fired rubber bullets at angry Palestinian youths who threw stones.
The Israeli retaliation has reverberated throughout the Arab world and beyond. Before the Arab League issued it's declaration, Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmet Maher, told reporters in Cairo that, "it is also the responsibility of the international community to take the necessary measures to stop this utter aggression against the Palestinian people."
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell voiced his disapproval of violence perpetuated by both sides, calling for an unconditional cease-fire.
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said the suicide bombing was appalling, but described the Israeli air attacks as disproportionate. It was the first time the Israelis had used fighter-bombers against Palestinians since 1967.
Escalating Attacks
On Friday, shoppers at the Hasharon mall immediately alerted mall security after seeing a neatly dressed man in an oversized suit, but when a guard stopped him, he set off explosives strapped to his waist.
The Islamic militant organization Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack and a senior Palestinian official identified the bomber as Mahmoud Ahmed Marmash, 21.
The attack came after a week of escalated violence between Israelis and Palestinians, including the killing of five Palestinian policemen in the West Bank on Monday.
At least 468 Palestinians and 84 Israelis have been killed since the latest Intifada erupted last September.
ABCNEWS' Steve McNally in Jerusalem contributed to this report.