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Politics : WAR on Terror. Will it engulf the Entire Middle East? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scoobah who wrote (322)	11/16/2001 10:06:43 AM
From: Scoobah	Respond to of 32591

Friday, November 16, 2001 Kislev 1, 5762 Israel Time: 17:04 (GMT+2) haaretzdaily.com 08:16 16/11/2001 Last update - 14:28 16/11/2001 Peres urges Palestinians to accept offer of Rafah monitors By Nitzan Horowitz and Shlomo Shamir, Ha'aretz Correspondents and Agencies UNITED NATIONS - Foreign Minister Shimon Peres urged Palestinians on Thursday to accept an Israeli offer to put American monitors into the Gaza Strip town of Rafah as a step toward taking charge of security in Palestinian areas. "We suggested strongly to the chairman of the Palestinian Authority [Yasser Arafat] to become responsible for Rafah," which is at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip between Israel and Egypt, Peres told reporters at the United Nations. The Palestinians "even asked for some American monitors that we agreed to have," he said, without elaborating. Peres added: "We're really anxious to see the Palestinians taking their security in their own hands and provide security for all parties in the territories." An Israeli spokesman said the offer was put to Arafat by Peres several months ago when they met in Cairo. "Arafat said he needs 10 CIA observers to be there and Peres agreed to it, but since then nothing has happened. ... Arafat didn't follow up," the spokesman said. Palestinians and other Arabs have repeatedly called for Israel to permit international monitors or a peacekeeping force to report on how incidents of violence start and to help quell the conflict. Israel has rejected the idea of an international force but agreed to American monitors since the United States is already a key participant in regional peacemaking. Pressured by Sharon, Peres alters speech favoring Palestinian state As Palestinians somberly marked the 13th anniversary of Yasser Arafat's declaration of independence, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday that Israelis now support a Palestinian state. "Yesterday, you would scarcely find any [Israelis] ... supporting a Palestinian state, and although this is not yet a formal policy of the government of Israel, there is support for Palestinian independence, there is support for a Palestinian state," Peres said. "We do not want to dominate the Palestinians," he said. "We want them to breathe freedom, to create a new economy, to keep their traditions, to enjoy the highest level of education, and to provide real security for all parties." Despite denials from the Prime Minister's Office that Peres' speech in support of Palestinian independence was coordinated with Ariel Sharon, the content was indeed worked out between them - the first time on Saturday at a meeting on Sharon's Sycamore ranch in the Negev. It was finalized Thursday, just before the speech, in a conversation between Sharon's chief of staff, Uri Shani, and Avi Gil, the Foreign Ministry director general and close associate of Peres. A government source said Sharon supports "a demilitarized, economically stable Palestinian state" but preferred not to declare it, and let Peres make the announcement. Peres said he would continue to discuss his diplomatic plan with Sharon on his return to Israel, and would later present it to the Labor party, Israel Radio reported Friday. Peres told the radio in an interview that Sharon does not censor his speeches. He said Sharon only wanted to know what he intended telling the United Nations on the matter of a Palestinian state. During the interview, Peres attacked the right-wing and said it did not have a plan and that it was content with vehement attacks against him. Regarding his relations with Sharon, Peres said he respected the prime minister and took his opinions into consideration, and that he hoped Sharon respected him as well. Peres also warned that the alternative to an independent Palestinian state would be an Arab majority in a binational state in place of a predominantly Jewish Israel. Peres's speech brought sharp protests from the right-wing. Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israel Radio on Friday that the prime minister and foreign minister were making an essential mistake, by mentioning the possibility of the establishment of a Palestinian state. He said this statement could be interpreted as a prize for terror. Minister Tzachi Hangebi told Israel Radio on Friday that Peres's speech at the UN was embarrassing. He said that this was the first time an Israeli minister had presented a personal stand, not the government's formal stand, at the UN. "As a citizen of the state of Israel I was ashamed," he said, and added that Peres's opinion did not win the majority vote in the last elections, and that he can't force it on the prime minister elected by the public.