The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the US administration's latest stance which amounts to endorsing the latest phase of Israeli aggression in Palestinian territories and its efforts to remove Yassar Arafat from the scene. President Bush announced on the eve of Colin Powell's visit to West Asia, that he will go ahead for a settlement "with or without" Yassar Arafat. He has also stated that the Colin Powell visit will seek to mobilise other leaders of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, in an obvious ploy to isolate the
Palestinian leader.

The US president had also the temerity to announce that he has decided that President Saddam Hussein of Iraq "has to go". The UN Security Council should immediately act to ensure that the Israeli armed forces are withdrawn from the occupied territories in the West Bank.

Recall Indian Ambassador from Israel

The Israeli aggression and slaughter of the Palestinian people continues. In such a situation, the Vajpayee government should ask the Israeli ambassador to leave India and recall its own ambassador from Tel Aviv.