| Gush Shalom visiting Arafat - 10/04 |  |
ýý A delegation of Gush Shalom met today (Saturday, 10.04.04) with the ýýChairman of the Palestinian authority, Yasser Arafat, in order to protest ýýagainst Ariel Sharon's declarations about his intention to kill him.ý
ý"We appreciate not only your place in history as the leader of the ýýPalestinian National Movement, but also recognize you as the only ýýPalestinian leader who can make peace with Israel," said Uri Avnery.
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ýThe delegation included Rachel and Uri Avnery, Beate Zilversmidt, ýýTeddy Katz, Adam Keller, Yehoshua Rosin and Dan Shohet.ý
ýAnswering a question of Adam Keller, the Gush spokesman, Arafat and ýýhis Minister for Negotiations, Sa'eb Erikat, spoke about their ýýdiscussions with Hamas about its participation in the administration of ýýthe Gaza Strip after an eventual withdrawal of Israel. Arafat said that the ýýprecondition was that Hamas stops all attacks on Israeli civilians. As ýýlong as there is no agreement about the political basis ("Two States for ýýTwo Peoples"), Hamas cannot take part in the political process, he said.
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ýArafat and Erikat were both very sceptical about the seriousness of ýýSharon's intention of leaving the Gaza Strip.
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ýAmong other topics:ý
ý- Arafat reminded the delegation that he sat opposite Sharon and ýýBenjamin Netanyahu at the Wye-Plantation negotiations and reached ýýagreement with them. Saeb Erikat added: "Sharon, then Israel's Foreign ýýMinister, was the spirit of the Wye Conference. He came up with all kind ýýof creative ideas to help reach an agreement. Now he is paralyzing ýýnegotiations totally and cutting off the channels of communication. A ýýmonth ago I met with his Bureau Chief Dov Weisglas. Since then, no ýýcontact whatsoever. How does he intend to carry out a withdrawal from ýýthe Gaza Strip without coordinating it with us? How does he evacuate ýýsettlements without the Palestinian Security Forces on hand to prevent ýýattacks on the evacuating settlers? Does he want the Gaza Strip to ýýbecome the arena of a civil war, a chaos of gangs and militias? Look ýýwhat is happening now in the West Bank cities. Sharon has destroyed ýýthe Palestinian police stations and disbanded our forces. Look what is ýýhappening now in Nablus for example, total chaos. Is this to the benefit ýýof Israel?"ý
ý- At the Wye conference, as will be remembered, Sharon did not shake ýýhands with Arafat. "He cannot forget Beirut," Arafat smiled.
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ý- In spite of this, Sharon send his son, Omri, several times to Arafat. ý
ýSharon threatens to kill me, but he sent his son to meet me. Omri ýýSharon sat and talked with me here in this room" said Arafat. "I rather ýýlike Omri Sharon. He is good guy and open-minded. After Sharon put me ý
ýunder siege in 2002 and his soldiers destroyed most of the compound ý
ýaround here, he nevertheless sent Omri again."
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ý- Arafat revealed that the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin had ýýproposed to Egyptian President Sadat to hand over the Gaza Strip to ýýPalestinian rule. "Sadat phoned, and passed on Begin's proposal, but I ýýsaid that I would not agree to separate the Gaza Strip from the West ýýBank." Saeb Erikat added: "The Gaza Strip cannot maintain itself even ýýfor a short time separately from the West Bank. The Gaza Strip now ýýprovides only 18% of the GNP, but 52% of our resources are invested in ýýit because it is the poorest and most neglected part of the Palestinian ýýTerritory." In the Oslo agreements, too, the PLO agreed to accept the ýýGaza Strip only together with the West Bank area of Jericho.
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ý- About Sadam Hussein: "He is not flexible." Arafat described several ýýepisodes to illustrate this.
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ý- Arafat disclosed that last week he had asked former President Jimmy ýýCarter, who had supervised the last Palestinian elections, to be again in ýýcharge of monitoring new Palestinian elections. Arafat intends to hold ýýelections for the presidency, the Legislative Council and municipal ýýcouncils, parallel to the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Erikat ýýadded: "That is the only way to stop the chaos and the militia rule and ýýreestablish an effective and legitimate government. Of course elections ýýrequire the exit of the Israeli army from the Palestinian towns and ýývillages. How can you hold elections when a foreign army can go in at ýýany moment, arrest or kill candidates, break up election rallies, or just ýýprevent voters and election workers from passing from one place to ýýanother?"
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Previous Gush Shalom actions.
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