A delegation of Gush Shalom met today (Saturday, 10.04.04) with the Chairman of thePalestinian authority, Yasser Arafat, in order to protest against Ariel Sharon’sdeclarations about his intention to kill him.
”We appreciate not only your place in history as the leader of the Palestinian NationalMovement, but also recognize you as the only Palestinian leader who can make peace withIsrael,” said Uri Avnery.
The delegation included Rachel and Uri Avnery, Beate Zilversmidt, Teddy Katz, AdamKeller, Yehoshua Rosin and Dan Shohet.
Answering a question of Adam Keller, the Gush spokesman, Arafat and his Minister forNegotiations, Sa’eb Erikat, spoke about their discussions with Hamas about itsparticipation in the administration of the Gaza Strip after an eventual withdrawal ofIsrael. Arafat said that the precondition was that Hamas stops all attacks on Israelicivilians. As long as there is no agreement about the political basis (“Two States for TwoPeoples”), Hamas cannot take part in the political process, he said.
Arafat and Erikat were both very sceptical about the seriousness of Sharon’s intentionof leaving the Gaza Strip.
Among other topics:
Arafat reminded the delegation that he sat opposite Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu at theWye-Plantation negotiations and reached agreement with them. Saeb Erikat added:”Sharon, then Israel’s Foreign Minister, was the spirit of the Wye Conference. He came upwith all kind of creative ideas to help reach an agreement. Now he is paralyzingnegotiations totally and cutting off the channels of communication. A month ago I metwith his Bureau Chief Dov Weisglas. Since then, no contact whatsoever. How does he intend tocarry out a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip without coordinating it with us? How does heevacuate settlements without the Palestinian Security Forces on hand to preventattacks on the evacuating settlers? Does he want the Gaza Strip to become the arena of acivil war, a chaos of gangs and militias? Look what is happening now in the West Bank cities.Sharon has destroyed the Palestinian police stations and disbanded our forces. Look whatis happening now in Nablus for example, total chaos. Is this to the benefit of Israel?”
At the Wye conference, as will be remembered, Sharon did not shake hands with Arafat. “Hecannot forget Beirut,” Arafat smiled.
In spite of this, Sharon send his son, Omri, several times to Arafat. Sharon threatens tokill me, but he sent his son to meet me. Omri Sharon sat and talked with me here in this room”said Arafat. “I rather like Omri Sharon. He is good guy and open-minded. After Sharon put me under siege in 2002 and his soldiers destroyed most of the compound around here, henevertheless sent Omri again.”
Arafat revealed that the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin had proposed to EgyptianPresident Sadat to hand over the Gaza Strip to Palestinian rule. “Sadat phoned, and passedon Begin’s proposal, but I said that I would not agree to separate the Gaza Strip from the WestBank.” Saeb Erikat added: “The Gaza Strip cannot maintain itself even for a short timeseparately from the West Bank. The Gaza Strip now provides only 18% of the GNP, but 52% of ourresources are invested in it because it is the poorest and most neglected part of thePalestinian Territory.” In the Oslo agreements, too, the PLO agreed to accept the GazaStrip only together with the West Bank area of Jericho.
About Sadam Hussein: “He is not flexible.” Arafat described several episodes toillustrate this.
Arafat disclosed that last week he had asked former President Jimmy Carter, who hadsupervised the last Palestinian elections, to be again in charge of monitoring newPalestinian elections. Arafat intends to hold elections for the presidency, theLegislative Council and municipal councils, parallel to the Israeli withdrawal from theGaza Strip. Erikat added: “That is the only way to stop the chaos and the militia rule andreestablish an effective and legitimate government. Of course elections require theexit of the Israeli army from the Palestinian towns and villages. How can you hold electionswhen a foreign army can go in at any moment, arrest or kill candidates, break up electionrallies, or just prevent voters and election workers from passing from one place toanother?”