Arafat intentions: Interview in
Lisbon
Lisbon's DIARIO DE NOTICIAS 7/3/99--Interview with Yasser Arafat:
"[`Diario de Noticias'] How was your visit to Portugal?
[Yasir Arafat] I was made to feel very welcome. I must thank his excellency the
president of the republic, the prime minister, the Speaker, the foreign minister and
especially the Portuguese people for supporting the Palestinians under such adverse
conditions.
We shall never forget this. And it should also not be forgotten that Portugal is a
member of the EU troika, and that in January 2000 it will preside over the EU. These dates
are very important, essential, for the Middle East, for the peace process and for the
Palestinians and their state.
[Q] What are your expectations regarding the peace process?
[A] We have to wait and see exactly how (Ehud) Barak will form his government, who will
be in his cabinet. The most important thing for the Palestinians, is an exact and honest
implementation of the accords signed by the Palestinians and Israelis. Especially the last
accord - the Wye River (Wye Plantation) - signed by Netanyahu. Some of it has been
implemented by Netanyahu.
We must not forget Netanyahu's initiatives to destroy the peace process. The
confiscation of land, the construction of settlements, the Judaization of Jerusalem, the
isolation of Bethlehem (by extending the settlements and by annexing of Maale Adumin to
Jerusalem] have totally frozen the peace process. We hope the Barak government will
correct everything done against the peace process. In fact, we expect him to do it.
[Q] Do you really trust Barak?
[A] It is not a question of giving him or not giving him my personal trust. We must
give him an opportunity, and we will give him that opportunity.
[Q] There are reports that you are trying to organize an Arab summit to set up a common
Arab front with regard to the peace process. Have you managed it?
[A] It was in fact President (Hosni) Mubarak and not me who launched the appeal for a
summit. Mubarak and the king of Morocco convened the summit. We totally support the
initiative. So far 15 Arab countries have responded positively to the proposal...
[newspaper ellipsis]
[Q] Including Syria?
[A] No, not yet.
[Q] How can you revive the Oslo accords? Netanyahu attacked and destroyed the peace
accords. How can you restore confidence in them?
[A] Through an exact and honest implementation of what has been signed, with concrete
things and not just with promises; with facts and not just words.
[Q] If Barak wanted to jump to negotiations on the final status (of the territories).
Would you accept?
[A] No. First it is necessary to implement the Wye River and the Oslo accords.
[Q] As for the settlements, have you asked the USA to press Barak's government to stop
them?
[A] I am asking this of the entire international community and not just of the US
administration. It must be remembered that the US administration, and especially President
Bill Clinton, described the settlements as "destructive" for the peace process.
He did so for the first time (in the letter he sent supporting the postponement of the
declaration of independence of the Palestinian state) and asked Israel to halt the
settlements. Therefore, the new prime minister must do so before the negotiations on the
final status.
[Q] You telephoned Barak to congratulate him on his electoral victory. Has he
telephoned you?
[A] Not yet.
[Q] And as for the declaration of independence?
[A] That question must be decided by the Palestinian Central Council which is due to
meet soon."
Barak vs. Bill
YEDIOT AHARONOT 7/4/99--Article by Shimon Shiffer: "President Clinton's statement
regarding the Palestinians' right of return was considered by Baraq to be grave to the
extent that he couldn't wait for the presentation of his new government this week. The
prime minister-elect believed that silence could have been construed by Washington as
acquiescence.
Baraq long ago reached the conclusion that the Clinton family's "slips of the
tongue" later become the basis of US foreign policy, as when Clinton, in his speech
to the Palestinian parliament in Gaza, referred to the Palestinians' right to realize
their national dreams -- thus publicly repeating remarks attributed to him earlier. These
are the messages that Baraq wanted to relay to the US Administration and the countries in
the region through his remarks:
This is not Kosovo. At the early stages of the NATO operation against the Serbs in
Kosovo, Arab leaders tried to draw a comparison between the acts perpetrated by the Serbs
against the Albanians in Kosovo and the sharp international reaction, and what Israel has
done to the Palestinians in the territories.
Egyptian Foreign Minister 'Amr Musa and Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shar' spoke
about the international community's obligation to force Israel to solve the problem of the
Palestinians expelled from their land. Baraq wants to signal to the Arab states that
Israel is not Kosovo and that nobody can force it to accept a solution it does not want --
certainly not by force.
The spirit of the Clinton-Mubarak news conference was that after Baraq's election as
Israeli prime minister expectation arose for resumed progress in the peace process. In his
statement, Baraq sought to lower expectations. Baraq is saying, in effect, that nobody
should expect Israel to return to the 1967 border within a short period of time.
The Baraq government will agree to show generosity in the political negotiations, but
it will scrupulously preserve Israel's security needs. Clinton slipped, and perhaps he
uncovered positions that are being raised in internal White House discussions regarding
the permanent arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians. Baraq is signaling that he
will not tolerate a US Administration dictate in issues that are vital to Israel."
Clinton's "significant"
statement
Cairo's AL AHRAM 7/5/95: "The important thing is not the precedent President
Clinton had set when he became the first US President to admit publicly the right of the
Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland. We had expected US diplomats would rush
to invent formulas to put this admission out of context as soon as the joint press
conference by Presidents Husni Mubarak and Bill Clinton was over and would give the
secondary conditions that the US President had talked about more prominence than the
general rule, which is the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland in
line with UN resolutions.
What is more important from our point of view is the strange state of confusion and
nervousness that engulfed President Clinton as soon as he heard the question posed by our
colleague, Dr. 'Abd-al-Mun'im al-Sa'id, about whether the same criteria applied in Kosovo
would apply to the Palestinian refugees.
Clinton started to laugh loudly and walk aimlessly in the direction of President
Mubarak, and then stopped for a while before continuing to walk and say in a fluctuating
tone of voice "well, well, well" until he finally controlled himself and gently
blamed the Egyptian leader for inviting this question. President Mubarak explained to him
that of course he had no idea what question was going to be asked.
It was the dilemma of a person who had ignored what was right, but was lured to come
out of his silence. We would not call it the dilemma of the guilty partner.
Clinton's attitude was a hundred times more eloquent than any speech, as they say. The
message that millions of viewers in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere got from his
behavior was enough to obliterate decades of Zionist propaganda denying aggression against
the Palestinian people, or robbing them of their land, the past of their ancestors, and
the future of their children.
This denial was so blatant that former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Me'ir once wondered
with racist denunciation "where are those Palestinian people? Tell me where they
are." She was merely interpreting the classic Zionist claim that Palestine was a land
without a people given to a people without a land.
Some people might wonder about the usefulness of Clinton's statement after his men had
rushed to divest the Palestinian right of repatriating refugees out of its content, and as
long as the balance of power makes right triumph over power only in a utopian world.
The answer is that what happened in the White House has certain political advantages.
It represents a type of reconsideration of Zionism as an ideology and a movement both in
the west and in Israel itself, even if Clinton did not mean to initiate such a response.
It will also initiate a reconsideration of Israeli policies vis-a-vis the Palestinian
issue and its relations with neighboring countries.
Hence, Clinton has served Jaraudi's [Contemporary French philosopher who embraced
Islam] case to prove the true nature of the myths about Zionism and Israel. This statement
also serves the Israeli intellectuals calling for rewriting the history of Israel and
Zionism. These are all branches of a historic operation, which should change not only the
nature of Israel, but also the nature of international support for it, no matter how long
this takes."
Secret talks: Barak and Abu-Mazin
YEDIOT AHARONOT 7/5/99: "Reserve Brigadier General Tzvi Stauber, political adviser
to Ehud Baraq, has already met twice with Abu-Mazin [Mahmud 'Abbas], the PLO's No. 2, and
with chief Palestinian negotiator Dr Sa'ib 'Urayqat.
It has been learned that the meetings were held in anticipation that the
Israeli-Palestinian track in the peace process will be accelerated and in a bid to clarify
the positions of the sides with a view to introducing a new era in their relations. A
senior aide in Baraq's bureau claimed last night that such a meeting between Stauber and
senior Palestinian Authority [PA] officials "never took place."
At Baraq's instructions, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces], the defense establishment,
and several government ministries have begun staff work to draft work papers in
anticipation of the implementation of the Wye agreements and the opening of negotiations
on the final-status arrangements.
The staff work is being conducted in coordination with Baraq's political team,
primarily by the IDF's Planning Branch, the office of the coordinator of activities in the
territories, and the Central Command. The Labor Ministry has also started staff work to
look into the impact of future agreements on the Israeli labor force and the Treasury has
started looking into the budgets needed to implement the agreements.
The IDF and Defense Ministry staff work is aimed at providing an answer for future
security problems and to present to the prime minister-elect possible scenarios resulting
from implementation of the agreements. Yasir 'Arafat and the heads of the Palestinian
leadership are demanding that as an initial move, Baraq renew the process, implement the
Wye agreements, and announce a settlement freeze.
'Arafat has already announced that he will not be prepared to give up implementation of
the interim agreements and move directly to negotiations on the permanent status.
'Arafat's office has made it clear that there will be no opposition to starting
negotiations on the permanent status, however while implementing the clauses in the Wye
accord.
Stauber's name hit the headlines in June 1995 when Binyamin Netanyahu, then head of the
opposition, disclosed from the Knesset podium the "Stauber document," a highly
classified document formulated prior to the chief of staff's discussions with his Syrian
counterpart. Stauber was head of the IDF's Strategic Planning Branch at the time."
Syrian openness?
YEDIOT AHARONOT 7/5/99: "Maurice Kohen, brother of the late Mosad agent Eli Kohen,
who was captured and executed in Syria approximately 34 years ago, recently sent a letter
to Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad asking: "Please allow me to visit my brother's
grave in Damascus and pray for his soul." Maurice Kohen's letter was delivered to
Syria approximately 10 days ago, by a western figure who met with President al-Asad in
Damascus.
The Syrian president, who knew what the appeal was about, agreed to receive the letter.
As far as is known, this is the first time an appeal by Eli Kohen's family has directly
reached the hands of the Syrian president. The western figure who delivered the letter
received the impression that "after a peace agreement between Syria and Israel is
reached, it will be possible to deal with the Eli Kohen issue."
At the same time, a person who recently visited Damascus said that the Syrian
leadership considers Kohen a traitor who passed on information that significantly
contributed to the Israeli conquest of the Golan Heights. A western source explained that
"under the present circumstances, Kohen's corpse is a political asset for
Syria."
Bibi & Ehud
HA'ARETZ 7/8/99: "Benjamin Netanyahu resigned his Knesset seat yesterday. After
congratulating his successor, Ehud Barak, and wishing the new government and new Knesset
speaker the best of luck, Netanyahu left the lectern and exchanged a series of emotional
handshakes with his party colleagues - all except Limor Livnat. Netanyahu also shook hands
with a number of MKs from the religious parties, and with One Israel MKs Elie Goldschmidt
and Uzi Baram.
"I wish to notify the Knesset that after 11 years of service, three of them as
prime minister, I am resigning my membership in the Knesset," Netanyahu said.
"During all these years I have tried, to the best of my ability, to act on behalf of
the people and the state, in accordance with my deep faith and my world view. Goodbye to
all of you, and good luck."
Netanyahu also thanked Barak for the warm personal comments the new premier said about
him in his speech..."
Global talks: renewing the momentum
ARUTZ7 7/7/99: "Prime Minister Barak's office has announced a new initiative to
"renew the diplomatic momentum." Barak will meet with Egyptian President Mubarak
on Friday, with Yasser Arafat on Sunday, and with King Abdullah of Jordan during the days
following. He will depart for the U.S. on Saturday night, July 17.
New Likud MK Yuval Shteinitz said today that the planned visit to Egypt is a sign of
weakness on the part of Barak, in that there was no parallel demand to have Mubarak visit
Israel. The Palestinian Authority demands that Barak carry out a "confidence-building
gesture" by freezing all Yesha construction and implementing the Wye Agreement at
once."
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