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Angry Arabs protest, condemn IsraelCAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Arab leaders Saturday condemned Israel's siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, as protests denouncing the military action were held in several Middle East cities. In Cairo, as the Arab League held an emergency meeting to discuss the rising tensions in the region, university students and other demonstrators called for Arab nations to do more to support the Palestinians and for death to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa called the Israeli action against Arafat's compound "a very serious development," and said it imperils the Saudi Arabian peace proposal adopted by Arab leaders Thursday, which offers Israel peace in exchange for lands it occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War. "The initiative is there, but we cannot talk about it now while the tanks and troops are seven meters from President Arafat's room," Moussa said. "If this is the Israeli response to our initiative, then it is for you and the world to know who is on the side of peace, and who is on the side of aggression." Israel moved against Arafat's compound after Wednesday's terrorist bombing that killed 22 people preparing for a traditional Passover dinner at an Israeli hotel. The raid in Ramallah marked Israel's response to a series of Palestinian terror attacks that occurred even as international efforts to lay the groundwork for a cease-fire intensified. In Arab nations, however, Israel is widely seen as the aggressor. The Israeli action has infuriated commentators in the Arab press. And, in addition to Cairo, other Middle Eastern cities were the sites of angry demonstrations on Saturday. Some 10,000 people in Baghdad condemned Israel in a show of support for Arafat, Reuters reported, and 4,000 demonstrators in Kuwait chanted slogans against Israel and the United States and urged Muslims to unite in support of the Palestinians. Jordan's King Abdullah II, in a telephone conversation with President Bush, urged the U.S. leader to "instantly move to end the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and the siege imposed on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat," the Jordanian state news agency Petra reported. "His Majesty stressed that the continuation of military escalation policy, adopted by the Israeli government, will have dire consequences that will bring matters out of control and destabilize the stability and security of the region at large," the agency reported. King Abdullah II was one of three Mideast leaders Bush called from his ranch in Texas on Saturday to discuss the tense situation in the region. In conversations that each lasted about 10 minutes, Bush also spoke with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah, discussing the ongoing violence and U.S. efforts to achieve a cease-fire between Israelis and Palestinians. The Bush administration has said Arafat needs to do more to condemn the terrorist attacks against Israelis, even as the Palestinian leader remains surrounded by Israeli forces. The administration also helped craft and voted for a United Nations Security Council resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from Ramallah. That resolution was approved early Saturday by the Security Council in a 14-0 vote. But Syria, the only Arab state on the Security Council, boycotted the vote. Syrian Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe said the resolution was not tough enough on the Israelis. "It does not condemn Israeli attacks against Palestinian people," Wehbe said. "Consequently [it] treats the victim and the criminal equally." |
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