Leaders of Palestinian revolt reject compromise

RAMALLAH — Palestinian revolt leaders have warned that they will oppose any agreement signed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat with Israel that concedes on Palestinian rights.

The Palestinian revolt leadership, which includes both Fatah and Islamic opposition representatives, issued a communique that warned that the Palestinians will not honor any agreement signed with Israel that concedes on Palestinian rights. This includes the Palestinian demand for refugee return.

"We will not relinquish our rights of return to our homes, villages and cities," Palestinian legislator Hussam Khader, a Fatah leader, said. "And we will not accept any kind of compensation for our personal, political, historical and human rights of returning to Palestine. If Israel didn't recognize the right of return for the Palestinian people, then nobody can talk about real peace, about stopping the Palestinian struggle."

Other Fatah leaders vowed to continue the mini-war against Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, PA and Fatah fighters fired toward a Jewish settlement outside Nablus.

Palestinian Legislative Council speaker Ahmed Qurei rejected the Clinton proposals. Qurei, an architect of the 1993 Oslo accords, said he opposes the U.S. proposal that the Palestinians recognize the Jewish link to the Temple Mount and concessions on refugee return.

PA Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo agreed.Abed Rabbo said the Palestinians would reject any concession on refugee return or a division of the Temple Mount area. He also rejected settlement blocs that would comprise six percent of the West Bank or a Palestinian declaration of an end to the conflict with Israel. Abed Rabbo told PA radio that such a declaration would only come after the signing of a full peace treaty.

For his part, PA Chairman Yasser Arafat said the Palestinians would need time to study the Clinton proposals. Arafat said there many difficulties in the proposals.

"There are still many obstacles," Arafat said. "Some of the proposals have not been modified since the Camp David summit. This needs a thorough and deep examination especially, there are some points in the proposal that offer us less than what was in Camp David."

Arafat convened his Cabinet and PLO leadership for a four-hour meeting in Gaza on late Monday. A Cabinet communique said the Palestinians would continue to study the U.S. proposals.