MUY MALO!

Israel 'dismayed' at Spain's reaction
Israeli officials expressed "shock and dismay" at an official Spanish statement following Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's death, which called him "one of the most relevant leaders of our time."

"Arafat's charismatic personality, the international status that he gave to the Palestinian nation and his unrelenting fight for recognition for his people makes him one of the most relevant leaders of our time," the statement read.

The statement on the Spanish Foreign Ministry's Web site said that "at this time we should remember that Yasser Arafat, along with Yitzhak Rabin, moved the Oslo Accords forward. These agreements represented one of the more encouraging steps in the long and difficult path towards finding a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."

Officials in Jerusalem said the Spanish comment was the "worst" reaction to Arafat's death to come from Europe because it completely ignored his involvement in terror.

"This reaction is without any proportion, and shows no empathy or understanding for what Arafat brought upon the Israeli public during his years of power," one official said. "The fact that there is no mention, not even a word, of Palestinian terror, or no mention of the fact that his hands were soaked with blood, raises questions about the objectivity of the Spanish government." .....

French President Jacques Chirac, whose nation hosted Arafat in his last days, said: "With him disappears the man of courage and conviction who, for 40 years, has incarnated the Palestinians' combat for recognition of their national rights."

Javier Solana, the EU's foreign minister, said, "With the passing of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian people has lost its historic leader. More than any other, his life stands for the tragic and turbulent history of the Middle East... The best tribute to President Arafat's memory will be to intensify our efforts to establish a peaceful and viable state of Palestine as foreseen by the road map."

Pope John Paul II has long supported Palestinian rights to a homeland and stood by Arafat when Israel and the US considered him a terrorist and an unreliable peace partner. A condolence message to the Palestinian Authority said the pope was praying "to the prince of peace that the star of harmony will soon shine on the Holy Land" so that Palestinians and Israelis "may live reconciled among themselves as two independent and sovereign states."