1. SHARON REFUSES TO MEET WITH ‘ABBAS UNTIL HE ‘GETS SERIOUS’ ON TERROR… Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will not meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas until the P.A. “takes serious action” against terrorist organizations. The statement from the Prime Minister’s Office followed a suicide bombing in the Israeli coastal town of Hadera on Wednesday in which five died and thirty were injured. Sharon also said on Thursday that Israel would launch what he called a “broad and nonstop offensive” against Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would not stop until terror attacks on Israelis are ended. Sharon and ‘Abbas were scheduled to meet prior to ‘Abbas’s visit to President Bush last week, but that meeting was postponed after the two sides could not reach agreement on a series of issues. A re-scheduling was being discussed for early November, but that now remains uncertain.
2. SHARON CALLS FOR IRAN TO BE THROWN OUT OF UNITED NATIONS… After the Iranian president reiterated the late Ayatollah Khumeini’s call for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon responded by calling for Iran to be thrown out of the United Nations. Vice Premier Shimon Peres echoed the sentiment, saying that he might begin proceedings to have Iran expelled. Other world leaders condemned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad, including European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. Barroso, however, called Ahmadi Nejad’s comments “unacceptable” but would not go so far as to call for Iran to be expelled from the United Nations. The Iranian’s comments were made in Tehran at a conference called “A World without Zionism.”
3. SYRIA WARNS NOT TO LET U.S. MISLEAD NATIONS… Responding to a draft United Nations resolution calling for sanctions against Syria for its alleged involvement in the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri, Damascus warned Security Council members not to be misled by the same American policies that led to the invasion of Iraq. Al-Hariri’s murder on February 14th is widely regarded as the event that triggered the expulsion of Syria from Lebanon. The government of Bashar Al-Asad has said it will cooperate in the investigation. A state-run Syrian newspaper charged that the United States was politicizing the U.N. report “by adopting the same lies it used to justify the war on Iraq.” Al-Thawra warned the Security Council that listening to the United States would “endanger the stability of the region…threatening international peace.”
4. ‘ABBAS DEFIES CALLS TO DISSOLVE CABINET… Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas said he will not dissolve his cabinet before legislative elections take place, defying an ultimatum issued by the parliament on October 3rd. In response to ‘Abbas’s resolve, the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council said he would begin the process of setting a no-confidence vote in order to bring down the ‘Abbas government. The parliament had charged that the cabinet is unable to bring lawlessness under control. Speaker Rawhi Fatouh said he will set the date for the no-confidence session within three days as the law demands.