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January 10, 2003/Shevat 7 5763, Vol. 55, No. 20
Israel, Britain at odds over forum
RICHARD ALLEN GREENE
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
LONDON - Israel's refusal to allow Palestinian delegates to attend a conference here on reforming the Palestinian Authority comes at a sensitive time in Israeli-British relations.
Israel decided Jan. 6 to bar the Palestinian delegation from next week's conference after a double suicide bombing in Tel Aviv killed 22 Israelis and foreign workers on Jan. 5.
The Al-Aksa Brigade, the military wing of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israel was already skeptical about the conference, which was announced by British Prime Minister Tony Blair during an official visit to London by Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.
Israel was not invited to attend the conference.
Britain invited Arafat to send delegates to the conference, which is being supported by the diplomatic "Quartet" - the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia - seeking an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
Israel and many of its British supporters, both Jewish and non-Jewish, were furious over the Assad visit, which included an audience with Queen Elizabeth.
A week after Assad's visit, Blair refused to meet Benjamin Netanyahu when the Israeli foreign minister visited London. Netanyahu instead met with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, his British counterpart.
There were reports that the Straw-Netanyahu meeting did not go well. The two did not hold a joint news conference after their meeting, perhaps for fear of highlighting their differences.
Meanwhile, Blair is planning to meet the leader of Israel's opposition Labor Party, Amram Mitzna, in London this week. The government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reportedly is furious that Blair refused to see Netanyahu but is meeting Mitzna.
It also emerged last week that Britain's refusal to sell certain spare parts to Israel may force Israel to ground part of its air force.
A British company is among very few in the world still making a critical part used in the ejector seats of F-4 Phantom fighter-bombers.
The Israeli Air Force has 140 Phantoms. A Defense Ministry spokeswoman said Jan. 3 that the planes might have to be grounded if Britain blocks delivery of the part.
An unnamed British official told The Associated Press that "there is no official or unofficial embargo on arms exports to Israel," but that "exports should not be used for internal repression or external aggression."
In any case, the grounding of the Phantoms would not affect Israel's air superiority in the Middle East, experts said.
On Jan. 6, Straw asked Netanyahu to rethink the decision to bar the Palestinian officials from the conference, a decision Straw said had been made "in anger."
Netanyahu said the entire premise of the conference was flawed.
"The Palestinian leadership does not need to meet abroad to close down suicide kindergarten camps, to stop incitement to murder and to fight terrorism," Netanyahu said in a statement Jan. 6. "This they can do in Ramallah and Gaza - right here, right now. Until the Palestinian leadership does so, it must be given no quarter and no legitimacy in the free world."
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