The Christian Science Monitor Mar 13, 8:13 PM EDT
Abbas Accuses Israel of Ethnic Cleansing
By HEIDI VOGT Associated Press Writer
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
accused Israel of implementing policies he claimed were part
of an "ethnic cleansing" campaign in the Palestinian areas of
Jerusalem.
Speaking at a summit of Islamic countries in the Senegalese
capital Dakar, Abbas said Israel had carried out policies
designed to force Palestinians out of the city.
"Our people in Jerusalem are under an ethnic cleansing
campaign," Abbas said in a speech. "They are suffering from a
series of decisions like tax hikes and construction
prohibitions."
Abbas said Palestinians "are facing a campaign of
annihilation" by the Israeli state.
In Wa****ngton, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack
said that "we would not use that term to describe the
situation. I think it's probably an example of some overheated
political rhetoric."
"We would urge both sides, both the Israelis and the
Palestinians, to keep their focus on the political process,"
McCormack said.
At the summit of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic
Conference, the world's largest Muslim organization, Abbas
appealed to Muslim leaders for sup****t during a difficult
junction in the Mideast peace process.
Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the
conference that recent unrest in Gaza showed that Israel "just
kills innocent women and children, but the U.N. Security
Council stays silent."
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who is chairing the OCI,
condemned Israeli attacks but also called for unity among
feuding Palestinian factions.
U.S.-backed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians
have been strained by a recent surge in fighting. On Thursday,
the militant Islamic Jihad group in Gaza fired dozen of
rockets at southern Israel after Israeli undercover forces
killed one of its West Bank leaders.
Abbas said Palestinians expect Israel to meet "commitments to
put an end to its aggressions and settlements expansion ...
Yet what is taking place on the ground today is totally in
violation of that."
Palestinians are split between the moderate government led by
Abbas in the West Bank and the militant Hamas group that has
ruled Gaza since seizing the coastal strip by force last year.
"I should like to tell our brothers and sisters of Palestine
that your unity is the first priority of success ... Please
unite," Wade said. He also called Israel "an occupying power"
and urged its government to "immediately stop its
dispro****tionate use of force."
The Middle East has long been a core issue for the conference,
which was founded in 1969 in response to an arson attack on
the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. The group aims to promote
Islamic unity and serve as a voice for the Muslim world.
Some 40 heads of state were attending the conference including
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki.
A draft declaration to be adopted by the leaders "backs
Palestine, and condemns Israel for what it is doing in Gaza,"
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said.
---
Associated Press Writer Rukmini Callimachi contributed to this
re****t.
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/ISLAMIC_SUMMIT?
SITE=MABOC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-03-13-20-
13-46
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A government, of, by, and, for: Rich, Elite, Freemasons.
But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the
light:
for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
The light ****neth in darkness;
and the darkness comprehended it not.
The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be
single,
thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of
darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great
is that darkness!
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give thee light.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
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