Leaders of Palestinian revolt reject compromise
Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Wednesday, December 27, 2000
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.
Wednesday, December 27, 2000
Subscribe to World Tribune.com's Daily Headline Alert
Click Above To Subscribe
|