Palestinians Vow To Pursue State
Saturday, 2 January 1999
G A Z A C I T Y , G A Z A S T R I P (AP)
THOUSANDS OF Palestinians, some masked and firing rifles in the air to
celebrate, rallied in the West Bank and Gaza Strip today and vowed to
keep up a push for statehood this year.
The rallies in Bethlehem and Gaza City were held to mark the 34th
anniversary of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, which carried out a bloody
armed struggle against Israel for decades before making peace with the
Jewish state.
In Gaza, about 4,000 Fatah members rallied in an auditorium draped with
Palestinian flags and pictures of Arafat. A series of speakers denounced
Israel for suspending the Wye River land-for-security accord.
"Our battle is a battle of peace, and our hand is extended in peace ... The
olive branch is still held high, and we will not drop it," said Ahmed Hilas,
the Fatah secretary in Gaza.
Israel says it has frozen compliance with the accord because of violations
on the Palestinian side. The Palestinians insist they have been adhering to
the terms of the agreement.
Israel has demanded that Palestinians stop threatening to unilaterally
declare statehood in May, but the topic came up again at today's rallies.
"Establishing the Palestinian Authority on part of our land proves that the
sacrifices of our people from the start of the revolution until today have not
gone to waste," said Zakaria Agah, a member of the PLO executive
committee, speaking on Arafat's behalf. "This authority is a strong
foundation for an independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital."
Israel claims all of Jerusalem, the eastern sector of which was captured in
the 1967 Middle East war, as its capital.
In Bethlehem, marchers in black masks and camouflage fatigues marched
through the center of town. Some fired celebratory shots into the air with
rifles and pistols.
Denunciations of the Israeli freezing of the Wye accord also came at
Friday night's Palestinian Cabinet meeting in the West Bank town of
Ramallah. The ministers also denounced stepped-up activity by Jewish
settlers in Jerusalem's eastern sector.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been encouraging more Jews to
build in disputed neighborhoods, and settlers backed by Florida millionaire
Irving Moskovitz say they want to begin work soon on another 132 homes
for Jews in the neighborhood of Ras al-Amud. |
