Friday, 18 February 2005ETGAR LEFKOVITS and AP
US President George W. Bush is extremely unlikely to gain EU agreement to any request to list Hizbullah as a terrorist movement, European Union diplomats in Brussels said Thursday.
The US is reportedly pressing for such a decision by the EU, which currently is divided on the issue, according to diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity. The opponents argue the situation in Lebanon and the region is too delicate for abrupt changes of policy by the EU.
"There are no indications an immediate consensus is emerging on Hizbullah," said one EU diplomat.
Although next Tuesday's EU-US summit is supposed to mark a transatlantic reconciliation following the divisions over the Iraq war, several divisive issues could emerge ÔÇô over Iran's nuclear program, China's arms embargo and Hizbullah, among other issues.
Washington considers Hizbullah, backed by Syria and Iran, a terrorist group, in part because it sponsors Palestinian violence and funds suicide bombings against Israelis.
"So many things are taking place in Lebanon in which Hizbullah plays a political role, so an [EU] decision requires an important political dimension," one diplomat said.
The diplomat said more than one non-EU country ÔÇô widely believed to be the US and Israel ÔÇô had asked for the 25-nation union to put Hizbullah on the terror list, but at a meeting of EU diplomats Wednesday the necessary unanimity among the 25 nations was far from achieved. The diplomat would not specify which countries were making the demand.
The officials said there would certainly be no change ahead of next week. Adding tension over the issue was the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in a bomb attack which left 16 others dead. Many Lebanese accuse Syria and the Lebanese government of orchestrating the attack. The US withdrew its ambassador from Syria following the bombing. Syria is a patron of Hizbullah.
Yediot Ahronot quoted IDF intelligence officials on Thursday as saying that Hizbullah was behind the assassination of Hariri, but the army declined to comment on the report.
The issue of placing Hizbullah on the EU's terror list came up in Paris this week, when Shalom pressed for such action.
"Hizbullah is trying to undermine the stability" of Israel, Shalom said, adding that the Iranian-backed group "owns 12,000 rockets [and] spends $9 million a year on training and funding [for] Palestinian terrorist cells, which were responsible in 2004 for over 60 attacks against Israeli citizens."
French President Jacques Chirac's spokesman, Jerome Bonnafont, said Tuesday that the Hizbullah question is "complex and must be examined with regard to the regional context in all its aspects and, in particular, Lebanon."
Listing Hizbullah as a terrorist group "could have consequences that would be worse than not listing it," a French diplomat added.
The Anti-Defamation League is also calling upon the European Union to designate Hizbullah a terrorist organization.
"Hizbullah is a terrorist organization that is committed to Israel's destruction and actively supports Palestinian terrorists," said Barbara Balser, ADL national chair, and Abraham Foxman, ADL national director, in a letter sent this week to the 25 EU ambassadors to the US.
While the Netherlands, Italy and Poland reportedly support branding Hizbullah a terrorist organization, France is adamantly opposed to such a move, with Britain and Germany remaining on the sidelines in light of the vehement French opposition on the issue. |
Friday, 18 February 2005
Jerusalem Post
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