To the French ambassador to Israel, Jacques Huntzinger, Palestinian suicide operations against the Israeli occupation are acts of terrorism that should be denounced. However, there could be no comparisons drawn between the act of terror perpetrated in the United States and Palestinian “terrorism” in Israel, he told reporters.
Quoted by Haaretz as speaking at a Rosh Hashanah reception held at the official residence of Israeli President Moshe Katsav, the French ambassador said: "First of all, we don't know who is responsible for the terror attack in the US tragedy. We don't know whether this is an action committed by a state or individuals." "Secondly," Huntzinger added, "here [in Israel], there is terror activity, and we denounce it. But terror here is connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which will not be resolved quickly, and it's an entirely different situation. We cannot confuse the Israeli-Palestinian situation and the tragedy that occurred in the United States."
Huntzinger added: "You [Israelis] are making the comparison. There is no comparison between the situation here and the very tragic one in the United States. It is completely irresponsible, politically, to make such a comparison."
But the US envoy’s response was more appealing to the Israelis, though a diplomatic one.
Asked to respond to his French counterpart's assertion that there was no comparison between terror in the United States and Israel, US Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer referred to Wednesday night's UN Security Council resolution, which condemns terror in all its forms, without exception.
The French ambassador's remarks subsequently stirred an outcry among right-wing politicians in Israel, said Haaretz.
MK Michael Kleiner (Herut- National Movement) said that Huntzinger was the "Petain [a Vichy government official] of the first decade of the 21st century, an anti-Semitic racist whose diplomatic credentials should be revoked, and who should be sent back to Paris immediately."
MK Yuli Edelstein (Yisrael b'Aliyah) called on Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to classify Ambassador Huntzinger as persona non grata. "A strong smell of anti-Semitism wafts from the ambassador's remarks," Edelstein said.
"In an orderly, democratic society, such an ambassador would not remain at his post for a single day after making such a comment," one Israeli diplomatic source said.
Speaking at the event at the president's residence, Japan's ambassador to Israel, Hiroshi Shigeta, objected to comparisons drawn between the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II and this week's terror strikes in the United States. Pearl Harbor, the ambassador said, had been an act of war against America, whereas this week's attacks had been directed against innocent civilians, with the use of civilian aircraft. "There's no need to compare the two things," Shigeta said. "We must be determined to struggle against terrorism."
Israel has been trying to invest the terror attacks on the US landmarks to its benefit, by drawing attention to “Islamic terrorism.”
The Arabs at the official and popular levels reacted by insisting that the Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets are acts of national struggle that is legitimate under the international law.
The Palestinian Authority has always denounced suicide bombings against Israeli civilians, but the Israelis would describe an attack on settlers as a terrorist act, although settlements are a form of occupation in the eye of the world.
AFP reported Thursday that the Arab League has condemned Israel's "exploitation" of attacks in the United States to carry out its own brand of terrorism against the Palestinians.
The league "condemns the exploitation of these regrettable events by Israel, which is escalating its savage aggression against the Palestinian people, its invasion of Palestinian cities and the practice of terrorism against the Palestinian people."
The organization's secretary general, Amr Moussa, held an emergency meeting of ambassadors from the 22-member league to study the situation following the attacks.
Egypt sent a similar warning to Israel on Wednesday evening through its Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher.
"I hope Israel will not try to use whatever it is to carry out brutal practices which will complicate the situation," Maher said.
On Wednesday and Thursday, 14 Palestinians were killed and 13 were wounded, including one seriously, during incursions by the Israeli army in the area of Jenin on the West Bank.
A Palestinian was also killed early Thursday by Israeli soldiers firing near Ramallah, the West Bank, Israeli public radio reported – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
