The train is set on a collusion course....Unfurtunately plenty of people, oil, food on board... We however, prefer to watch Titanic melodrama..
Arafat Renews Call For Palestinian State
02:45 p.m Sep 27, 1998 Eastern
By Bernie Woodall
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat Sunday renewed his determination to achieve an independent state by May next year and rejected any linkage between the fight against terrorism and other aspects of a Middle East peace accord.
''I would like to reiterate our policy of zero tolerance to terror and violence whether committed by Palestinians or Israelis against Israelis or Palestinians, without any linkage to other aspects of the peace process,'' Arafat told a conference organized by the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation.
Arafat is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly, as is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and U.S. leaders are trying to use the opportunity to break the deadlock between them.
Arafat addresses the General Assembly Monday amid speculation he will solicit support for declaring statehood if accords with Israel are not completed by May, the official deadline for a final deal.
''The Palestinian state will be a state of peace,'' Arafat said Sunday.
''I want and hope that the declaration of an independent Palestinian state on Palestinian soil will be carried out within the framework of international celebration,'' he said, according to an English translation of his speech in Arabic.
Under the 1993 Oslo interim peace accords, final agreements between the Palestinians and Israel are supposed to be completed by May 4.
''The international community and all peace-loving people must exert a responsible effort to ensure the implementation of an agreement signed before May 4, 1999,'' Arafat said.
The day ''just can't come and go like any other day.''
''On that day, we hope that our basic choice of reaching an agreement is realized. We hope that our basic choice of concluding the peace process with Israel is realized.''
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who spoke last week at the United Nations, has said unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state would collapse peace moves and prompt Israel to take what he calls a similar unilateral act.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met the two leaders separately Saturday night and was scheduled to meet them again Sunday, U.S. officials said.
The United States has proposed an Israeli troop withdrawal from a further 13 percent of the West Bank in exchange for tougher Palestinian action against Islamic militants.
Arafat and Netanyahu are to meet President Clinton in Washington separately this week but officials say a three-way meeting could be arranged if events warranted.
''We seek a comprehensive peace on all fronts so we can achieve our desired goals of peace, prosperity and security for all the people of the region and independence and freedom for the Palestinian people,'' Arafat said.
In response to the speech, Israel's U.N. ambassador Dore Gold said Arafat had failed to use the opportunity ''to reach out and create a better tone of mutual reconciliation''.
Albright's spokesman James Rubin said any unilateral declaration by Arafat ''would be a mistake.''
Rubin said the United States opposes unilateral actions by Israel on issues -- like settlement building -- that by agreement are set aside for resolution in final status negotiations.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited. |
