Shaath: catastrophe is ahead of us
Palestine-Israel, Politics, 1/16/1998

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat again warned of a new cycle of violence in the region if his forthcoming visit to Washington and his summit meeting with US President Bill Clinton.

Arafat told reporters after his meeting in Hebron with European Union envoy Miguel Moratinos that his talks in Washington would be the last chance for peace in the region and expressed hopes that the US would practice enough pressure on the Israeli government to implement the second phase redeployment of its troops in the West Bank.

A close aide to Arafat, meanwhile, said that the Palestinian President will press for a significant scope of Israeli redeployment in the West Bank and will ask President Clinton for urgent steps to stop Israel's unilateral measures, mainly in the field of Jewish settlement construction activity in the West Bank.

Palestinian International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath told the Foreign Press Association Thursday that if a breakthrough is not achieved in the forthcoming talks in Washington a "horrible catastrophe" will hit the region. "I would like to be as clear as possible. This is not a threat but a warning. It should be understood that the lack of progress will lead to a horrible catastrophe. This is not our option at all. We are not threatening but we voice our concern and send out messages of warning. Our option is to succeed and reach our goal by political means," he said.

He added that President Arafat has been doing his best to extend a sense of patience among the Palestinians "because if he does not do that, a major explosion is ahead of us." Shaath said it is much easier for the Palestinians "to be involved in a one million year political struggle rather than have a one-day military struggle" and stressed that any suicide bombing attacks cause harm to Palestine and to the Palestinians more than they do so to the Israelis.

Shaath said the percentage of the second phase redeployment is not the only problem that faces the Palestinian-Israeli talks but noted that Palestine would be ready for a compromise on the scope of the second phase redeployment provided there are assurances from the US and Israel that the third phase redeployment would lead to the withdrawal of the Israeli troops from all the areas designated in the interim agreements.

"The accords we signed with Israel openly speak of keeping only the military installations and the Jewish settlers under Israel's control by the end of the third phase redeployment and there is no reason we should we accept less than what was agreed upon by both sides." He said that the accords were signed with the former Labor government but still were ratified by the present government of Benjamin Netanyahu which was the co-signatory to the Hebron Protocol, which reiterated the commitment of both sides to the Oslo Accords.

Asked what mechanism he believes will get both the Palestinians and Israel out of the present vicious circle in which each side presents a set of demands or conditions knowing that the other would not be ready to accept, Shaath said that it is not a question of looking for a new mechanism "but a matter of having a more practical role by our sponsor, the US, to make sure that the accords be implemented." Said Shaath: "We do not need to negotiate new agreements because we believe the solution is not in new agreements but in honoring old ones. Why should we renegotiate when we know that in the future even the new agreements have a chance of not being implemented?"

Palestine, said Shaath, is deeply concerned about Israel's security because it believes it is tantamount to the security of the Palestinians as well. "It should be clear that every time a suicide bombing attack take place, the Palestinians are the main losers. Israel immediately punishes the whole population and closes down all passages between the PNA areas. One should look for the motive when it comes to analyzing why a suicide attack is carried out and then he would find out that the Palestinians are the most affected by this act." He said the PNA is doing its best to maintain security regardless of what happens on other tracks. He refuted Israeli allegations of lack of security cooperation on the part of the PNA and said that the problem is not in the security cooperation at all because Palestine has done its best but it was Israeli Premier Netanyahu who refused to sign the agreement that was initialed between Palestinian and Israeli officers with the presence of US officials.

Shaath refused to comment directly on a list of charges filed by the Israeli government about Palestinian violations of the Oslo Accords and said if the Israeli list "is made of 12 pages, then let me tell you that our chief negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat has been distributing a document of 80 pages with details of Israeli violations of the accords." He said the Israeli list was only drafted to create pretexts to avoid any implementation of the agreements.

He rejected Israel's demand for further amendment of the Palestinian National Charter and said that the necessary alterations to the convent were already done in April last year with the presence of former US consul general in Jerusalem, Edward Abbington. "Former deputy foreign minister of Israel, Yossi Beilin, was in constant telephone contact with us during the PNA session in Gaza and the draft we presented for amendment had been preaccepted by then foreign minister Shimon Peres. That is why there is no room to introduce any further changes on the Palestinian national charter."

Previous Stories:
  No more redeployment maps - Israel piles demands   (1/14/1998)
  Palestine rejects Israeli demands and conditions   (1/13/1998)
  Dahlan : We reject any changes on the security understanding   (12/23/1997)

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