Sunday, October 25, 1998
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W O R L D | Sunday, October 25, 1998 |
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Britain to crack down on illegal immigrants LONDON, Oct 24 — The British Government has proposed new measures to crack down on illegal immigration, mainly from India and Pakistan. Benazir put $ 13.8 m in
Swiss account |
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Netanyahu, Arafat sign peace accord WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (DPA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian authority leader Yasser Arafat have signed a hard-won interim accord in the West Asia peace process. US President Bill Clinton and Jordan’s King Hussein, who played vital roles in the difficult, exhausting and long negotiations, joined the two leaders for the signing, which took place at 9.45 GMT in the East Room of the White House yesterday. Others who attended the signing included Vice-President Al Gore and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, as well as members of the leaders’ delegations, King Hussein’s wife Queen Noor and Mr Netanyahu’s wife Sarah. It was a personal triumph for Mr Clinton, who was described by Mr Netanyahu as a "warrior for peace" and by King Hussein as "having the patience of the Biblical job." Mr Clinton, who referred to his sleepless nights, spent some 85 hours in the past nine days on the project. He described those hours and said "Some were more pleasant than others." Mr Clinton’s value was made apparent when he mounted a late-night rescue operation at the isolated Wye Plantation Conference Centre on the eastern shore of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay to forestall an Israeli walkout. The ceremony was a moving and poignant moment for the spectators in the East Room, watching and listening to King Hussein, who made what was described by participants on Sunday night as an impassioned speech to the negotiators at a moment when the talks at the conference centre were close to a breakdown. Summoned from Minnesota, where he has been receiving treatment for cancer, King Hussein looked thin, happy and quite hairless — "I have even lost my eyebrows" — from the Chemotherapy. He noted wryly that he had been written off as a terminal case, but he said his morale had never been higher and the agreement had been a shot in the arm for him. The signing took place after the two principals, Mr Clinton and others involved in the nine-day talks flew back here separately from Wye Plantation. The accord provides for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from 13 per cent of the occupied West Bank in return for concrete security guarantees from the Palestinians. Mr Arafat said, "We are fully committed to what we have signed." He went on, "I will do everything I can so that an Israeli mother is not worried if her son or daughter comes home late." He told Mr Netanyahu and the other Israelis, "Your security is our security." Under other provisions, the Palestinians will convene "all relevant bodies" to revoke any part of the Palestinian national charter that calls for the destruction of Israel. Mr Clinton said he would attend the meeting of the Palestinian National Council when it meets "in some weeks" in Gaza to revise the charter. Israel also agreed to a phased release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. However, Mr Arafat did not get his wish for a separate third phased withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank. Nor did he persuade the Israelis to move ahead to permit the opening of a seaport in Gaza. The Israel third-phased withdrawal will now become part of the final status negotiations involving such issues as borders, return of refugees, Jerusalem, and water sharing. The ceremonial signing, in the same room where other important West Asia agreements were signed, was delayed for several hours as the Americans and the Israelis tangled over whether there was a promise to release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard as part of the deal. Israeli sources said there was an "agreement in principle" to release Mr Pollard from prison. Mr Clinton said he agreed to "review seriously" the Pollard case "with no guarantee as to the outcome". Mr Pollard, convicted in 1987 of espionage, is serving a life term at a federal facility in North Carolina. In the agreement that was signed, it was clear that the Palestinians did not get everything that they had hoped. They obtained the opening of an airport, which will permit them to export some of their products, such as cut flowers and fresh vegetables to Europe. However, they did not succeed in gaining the opening of a Gaza seaport that would help revive the sagging Palestinian economy where unemployment in Gaza tops 50 per cent. The Palestinians did receive something that was important — safe, free passage between Gaza and the parts of the West Bank controlled by them. They also received Israeli acceptance of a ban on "unilateral" actions, which they and the Americans interpret to include further expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. JERUSALEM (AP): Under the new Israeli-Palestinian agreement, the Palestinians are promised a sizeable piece of real estate, needed to achieve their goal of statehood. Israel hopes a package of new security measures will put Islamic militants behind bars for good and prevent terror attacks, which have frayed the Israeli public’s confidence in the peace process. But the key question is whether the complex, multi-stage agreement can be carried out in the climate of suspicion and distrust which may only have deepened in the acrimony surrounding the Maryland Summit. The first test will come
when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns
home to face the political storm brewing as a result of
the agreement. |
Leaders welcome pact UNITED NATIONS, Oct 24 (PTI) — World leaders today welcomed the interim peace accord between Israel and Palestine describing it as a “courageous decision” and a “right step in the right direction” to bring permanent peace in West Asia. The UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, who was the first to react on the accord signed yesterday between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat capping nine days of arduous negotiations held under US auspices, said: “I am delighted at the news that the impasse in the West Asia peace process has finally broken.” “This is a big step and I congratulate Yasser Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu for having had the courage to make the compromises necessary for peace,” Mr Annan, who is on a visit to South Korea, said. He also congratulated US President Bill Clinton and King Hussein of Jordan for their efforts. “I hope this will lead to renewed efforts to conclude a comprehensive peace for the region,” he said. “In the end, after the twists and turns and ups and downs, all their late and ultimately sleepless nights, both (Mr Netanyahu and Mr Arafat) reaffirmed their commitment to the path of peace,” Mr Clinton said after the signing of accord. Mr Clinton thanked both Mr Arafat and Mr Netanyahu for accepting the idea that “the home of Islam and Judaism and Christianity can truly be the home of people who love one god and respect every life god has created.” “The accord is one step on the right path towards restoring Palestinian land and negotiating fundamental issues,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Amar Moussa said. He said the real progress on the ground was linked to the accurate implementation of the agreement and return of territories under Palestinian control. Russia hoped the “two parties will take practical measures to put into effect these accords in a constructive spirit”. President of UN General Assembly Didier Opertti said the entire community shared the joy on the results of the talks between Palestine and Israel. Terming the interim accord as a “courageous decision”, Japan pledged to continue support for efforts to bring a final solution to the Israel-Palestinian question. “Japan strongly hopes that further efforts will be made in peace negotiations on the basis of this agreement so that a final settlement can be reached on various remaining issues, including those concerning the final status of Palestine”, Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said in a statement. Jordanian Prime Minister
Favez Tarawneh hoped the accord would pave way for prompt
revival of the Israel-Syria and Israel-Lebanese tracks in
the West Asia peace process. |
Britain to crack down on illegal immigrants LONDON, Oct 24 (IANS) — The British Government has proposed new measures to crack down on illegal immigration, mainly from India and Pakistan. Large numbers of illegal immigrants are suspected to be smuggled into Britain every year, including thousands of Punjabis from these two countries. The government proposes to get tough with those smuggling illegal immigrants into Britain, Home Secretary Jack Straw has indicated. The proposed measures include a controversial move to hold truck drivers responsible for any illegal immigrants caught in their vehicles. The thousands of trucks coming into Britain are said to be a common method of bringing South Asians illegally into this country. British Customs do not have the manpower to check every truck and bus coming in. A new wave of illegal immigration has also opened up through the Eurostar train from Paris to London, Straw told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee. “There are too many flooding through on Eurostar, Paris. We are thinking about imposing carriers’ liability on drivers of private cars because of the large numbers who are coming through that way,” he said. The liability is expected to be included in the Asylum and Immigration Bill due in the next session of Parliament. Straw called it the only way left to deal with “the substantial increase of wholly illegal immigrants.” But truckers associations
are strongly resisting any moves to hold them responsible
for carrying illegal immigrants into Britain. “Our
members are truckers, not immigration officials,”
Dan Hodges of the Road Haulage Association said in a
statement. |
Benazir put $ 13.8 m in Swiss account WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (ANI) — Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto deposited $ 13.8 million in a Swiss account, a banking official was quoted as saying by the New York Times yesterday. The official, who did not want to be named, said bank accounts of Zaire’s late dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and Ms Benazir Bhutto, served as examples of successful Swiss reform. KARACHI (UNI): Benazir Bhutto has asked the Chief Ehtesab Commissioner to take action against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on charges of money laundering and for not declaring his assets prior to filing nomination papers for elections. At a press conference here
last night, Ms Bhutto asked whether money used for the
purchase of properties in London by Mr Sharif was legal
or not. |
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| Sakharov prize for Rugova BRUSSELS: The European Parliament has decided to award this year’s Sakharov prize to Mr Ibrahim Rugova, leader of the ethnic Albanians in the Serbian separatist province of Kosovo. Parliament President Jose Maria Gil-Robles and leaders of the political groups in the 626-member Assembly voted on Thursday in favour of Mr Rugova, who advocates a peaceful struggle for the independence of Kosovo. Mr Rugova will be invited to receive the award at a December ceremony in Parliament headquarters in Strasbourg, France. Mr Rugova, (53) is the elected leader of the Kosovo Albanians, who make up 90 per cent of the population in the province. Serbia, which revoked Kosovo’s autonomy in 1989, never recognised Mr Rugova as the province’s leader. — AP Hint on Pinochet ‘King and
I’ remake Of Iraqi weapons Attack on envoy |
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