-News for Tue. 16 April & Wed. 17
April 2002 Bush, Lebanese Prime Minister Meet at White House
VOA
News 17
Apr 2002 13:29 UTC
 
President Bush and
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri meet Wednesday at the White House for
talks on the Mideast crisis.
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| AP |
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Rafiq Hariri File photo |
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The White House
says Mr. Bush will urge Mr. Hariri to end Hezbollah guerrilla rocket attacks
from southern Lebanon onto targets on Israel's northern front. Israel has
retaliated with air raids and artillery fire inside Lebanon. The exchanges have
raised fears of a wider conflict beyond the fighting between Israelis and
Palestinians.
The two leaders
also are expected to discuss a Mideast peace plan proposed by Saudi Arabia and
endorsed by an Arab League summit last month. Arab states would recognize
Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from lands seized in the 1967
Mideast war. In U.S. interviews, Mr. Hariri defended the Hezbollah attacks on
the area known as Shebaa Farms, saying the tiny parcel of land is Lebanese
territory under Israeli occupation. He told U.S. public television Lebanon has
a right to to have the land back, by all means including the
resistance.
In another
interview, he told the Cable News Network the root cause of the entire Middle
East conflict is the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.
Some information
for this report provided by AP.
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