President Bush delivered a stinging denunciation of terrorism Monday as he addressed the 44th U.N. General Assembly.
He also warned that “regional conflict may well threaten world peace as never before.”
In his speech, Bush made no specific reference to the Middle East peace process, mentioning neither Israeli nor Egyptian proposals currently being floated.
But he said “the United states is determined to take an active role in settling regional conflicts.”
Bush was emotional when addressing the issue of terrorism.
“Hostage-taking and the terror of random violence are methods that cannot win the world’s approval,” the president said. “Terrorism of any kind is repugnant to all values a civilized world holds in common.”
He added emphatically, “And make no mistake: Terrorism is a means that no end — no matter how just that end — can sanctify.”
To demonstrate its abhorrence of terrorism. Bush urged the General Assembly to condemn the murder of Lt. Col. William Higgins, the American Marine who died in the hands of Shiite kidnappers in Lebanon. Higgins was serving at the time with the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization in Lebanon.
Bush called on “those responsible” for the murder to return Higgins’ remains to his family.
AUSTRIA BACKS PLO ROLE
The president also called on the Soviet Union to join the United states in helping eliminate the “scourge” of chemical weapons. He said the United States would be willing to cut its own stockpiles of chemical arms by 80 percent as a first step toward a worldwide ban.
Israel has been concerned about the proliferation of chemical weapons, particularly among such hard-line Arab states as Syria and Libya.
Asked for his reaction to the president’s remarks, Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens said, “Great speech, I agree with it 100 percent.”
Arens said terrorism is a subject on which the United States and Israel have had close contacts. Fighting it, he said, will take close cooperation between the countries that are opposed to it.
Arens, who is to address the General Assembly on Wednesday, has scheduled a number of meetings with foreign dignitaries, including Presidents Carlos Saul Menem of Argentina and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, as well as the foreign ministers of Hungary,, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Spain and several Western European nations.
Among the other statesmen to address the General Assembly on Monday was Alois Mock, Austria’s minister for foreign affairs.
He addressed the Middle East situation more directly, welcoming “the recent peace proposal put forward by President (Honi) Mubarak of Egypt” but making no mention of the Israeli peace initiative.
Mock said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be resolved at an international peace conference, with the “Palestinian people represented by the PLO.”
He also condemned the ongoing violence and “violation of human rights” in the West Bank and Gaza strip.
The Israeli government opposes the international peace conference format and rejects any negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization.
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