U.S. Says Still Opposed to Assassination of Arafat

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The State Department said on Friday it stood by its opposition to the assassination of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat after Israel's prime minister said he no longer felt bound by a pledge not to harm the Palestinian leader.
"Nothing has changed in the U.S. position and I will look at the statement and see what we have to say," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he was no longer bound by a pledge he gave President Bush not to harm Arafat.

"I said during in our first meeting about three years ago that I accepted his request not to harm Arafat physically," Sharon told Israel's Channel 2. "But I am released from this commitment. I release myself from this commitment regarding Arafat."

Sharon said he told this to Bush last week during a meeting with him at the White House, where he received U.S. approval for his plan to unilaterally evacuate all settlements from the Gaza Strip and some in the West Bank.

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more: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4925886