Devildogg4ever
08-25-03, 04:04 AM
By LEIGH STROPE
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As violence escalates in the Middle East, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says military involvement by the United States and its NATO allies might be required to bring stability to Israel and the Palestinians.
"If we're serious about having a situation of stability, a very direct action, I think, is going to be required," Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition."
Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a group of armed men sitting near the Gaza City beach Sunday, killing four Hamas fighters, including a fugitive commander.
Hours earlier, Palestinian militants fired a new, longer-range rocket into Israel. The rocket, which landed about four miles from the city of Ashkelon, fell on a beach just 30 feet from an unmanned lifeguard post, the Israeli army said.
"At some point the United States and its NATO allies and somebody is going to have to work with the Israelis and the Palestinians who want a state to get rid of the terrorists. I think it's just that simple," Lugar said.
International mediators want Yasser Arafat to relinquish control of security forces and allow Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and the U.S.-backed security chief, Mohammed Dahlan, to clamp down on militants in response to a Hamas bus bombing that killed 21 people in Jerusalem last week.
Arafat continues to command several of the security branches, while Abbas and Dahlan supervise the rest. Instead of giving up control over armed men, Arafat has proposed passing the supreme command to a loyalist, effectively sidelining Dahlan.
The Bush administration "has to figure out who is going to go after the terrorists," Lugar said, adding that U.S. military involvement "has to be a potential possibility."
A Democratic colleague agreed.
"You have to have some military entity that is going to be able to control the terror. Otherwise, the situation is going to dissolve into nothingness," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who serves on the Armed Services Committee and is part of a congressional delegation to the region, said peace won't be a reality until the Palestinian security forces are united under Abbas.
"He has got to win a political power struggle with Yasser Arafat because he's holding onto the old way of dealing with Israel," Graham told "Fox News Sunday." "He doesn't really want a two-state solution; Abbas does. And Abbas has got to make the decision to declare war, politically and militarily, against Hamas and Islamic Jihad."
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MIDEAST?SITE=NCJAC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- As violence escalates in the Middle East, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says military involvement by the United States and its NATO allies might be required to bring stability to Israel and the Palestinians.
"If we're serious about having a situation of stability, a very direct action, I think, is going to be required," Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., said Sunday on CNN's "Late Edition."
Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a group of armed men sitting near the Gaza City beach Sunday, killing four Hamas fighters, including a fugitive commander.
Hours earlier, Palestinian militants fired a new, longer-range rocket into Israel. The rocket, which landed about four miles from the city of Ashkelon, fell on a beach just 30 feet from an unmanned lifeguard post, the Israeli army said.
"At some point the United States and its NATO allies and somebody is going to have to work with the Israelis and the Palestinians who want a state to get rid of the terrorists. I think it's just that simple," Lugar said.
International mediators want Yasser Arafat to relinquish control of security forces and allow Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and the U.S.-backed security chief, Mohammed Dahlan, to clamp down on militants in response to a Hamas bus bombing that killed 21 people in Jerusalem last week.
Arafat continues to command several of the security branches, while Abbas and Dahlan supervise the rest. Instead of giving up control over armed men, Arafat has proposed passing the supreme command to a loyalist, effectively sidelining Dahlan.
The Bush administration "has to figure out who is going to go after the terrorists," Lugar said, adding that U.S. military involvement "has to be a potential possibility."
A Democratic colleague agreed.
"You have to have some military entity that is going to be able to control the terror. Otherwise, the situation is going to dissolve into nothingness," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who serves on the Armed Services Committee and is part of a congressional delegation to the region, said peace won't be a reality until the Palestinian security forces are united under Abbas.
"He has got to win a political power struggle with Yasser Arafat because he's holding onto the old way of dealing with Israel," Graham told "Fox News Sunday." "He doesn't really want a two-state solution; Abbas does. And Abbas has got to make the decision to declare war, politically and militarily, against Hamas and Islamic Jihad."
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MIDEAST?SITE=NCJAC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT