Arafat met Albright - will urge Israel to move forward regardless
Palestine, Politics, 9/11/1997

Palestinian National Authority President Yasser Arafat and his close aides had mixed feelings of disappointment and some hope as they met in Ramallah Thursday morning with visiting US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright because of what was widely seen by Palestinian officials as a one-sidedness on behalf of the US Administration.

Palestinian sources said that Arafat wanted to convince Albright that the PNA is taking action to prevent attacks in Israel and to present a document detailing Israeli violations of the interim agreements between the two sides. A list of Israeli provocative statements has been prepared to be given to Albright, including statements made by some Israeli officials referring to Arafat as a "war criminal" such as those statements attributed to ministers Ariel Sharon of national infrastructure and Tzahi Hanegbi of justice.

In addition, President Arafat has prepared a list of detailed actions taken by the PNA to prevent attacks on Israel as well as classified information confirming that perpetrators of the last two suicide bombings in West Jerusalem had come from abroad and not from within the PNA areas.

After her meeting with Arafat, Albright is due to meet with Netanyahu for the second time in her present trip and, according to US officials, she will stress the need for Israel to move forward on the peace process wihtout waiting for concrete results in the field of combatting terror by the PNA.

Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza were infuriated Wedenesday as Albright clearly showed moral backing to Israeli demands. Demonstrators in Nablus burnt the US flag, displayed cartoons of Albright wearing a star of David, and chanted slogans against the US. About 150 activists, mainly from opposition organizations, marched in the city and accused Albright of "exerting pressure on the Palestinians and trying to force them to bend to security demands by Israel."

Officials in the PNA said they had hoped for a more balanced approach by Secretary Albright but fell short of sharply criticizing her in person. "We still need to maintain a warm atmosphere for her meeting with the president and we hope that her statements after meeting Netanyahu were not final," a Palestinian source said Thursday morning. The source admitted that a feeling of discontent has been felt among many of his colleagues because of the biased attitude whe took in favour of Israel.

Prior to the arrival of Albright to Ramallah, Palestinian spokesmen hinted the PNA would be ready to accept moving towards permanent status talks with Israel over the course of six months provided the outstanding clauses of the interim agreements are honored and settlement construction works are stopped. The Palestinians had prepared a brochure detailing 35 violations of the agreements by Israel, led by settlement construction, land appropriation and house demolitions.

The list of Palestinian demands presented to Albright, according to Palestinain sources, includes the following: lifting of the closure, release of frozen Palestinian money and tax revenues, immediate resumption of committees working on the implementation of the interim agreements, and the implementation of the second and third phases of Israeli troop redeployment int he West Bank in accordance with the dates set in the agreements.

Marwan Kanafani, Arafat's advisor, stressed that the Palestinians reject the ten demands set by Israel for resuming negotiations, including removing certain personnel from the Palestinian police whom Israel alleges were involved in acts of terror, and cutting down the size of the Palestinian police force. Arafat had also prepared a survey of lists of arrests and actions taken by the PNA, stressing his willingness to resume the security cooperation with Israel with the participation of CIA representatives.

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