Arafat calls EU to help peace agreement overcome enemies
Palestine-European Union, Politics, 10/26/1998

Palestinian Presidnet Yasser Arafat met on Saturday with Austrian Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schussel, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.

Arafat called for European support for the agreement on second-phase Israeli troop withdrawal that was signed between Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday after nine days of talks at the Wye Plantation in the United States, noting that "this agreement has many enemies."

Schussel expressed hopes that the Wye River agreement can spark talks on the other tracks in the peace process, saying, "I hope that the peace process, which has regained momentum, will also open the way to progress in Israel's relations with Lebanon and Syria."

Schussel will visit several Middle East countries in the coming weeks in his capacity as the president of the European Council to address the peace process and stability in the Middle East.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will extend the Palestinian gevernment two loans worth $54 million to finance water and road projects.

The first loan, worth $32 million, will finance the construction of water supply networks and prospecting for new water resources in the West Bank. The second loan, worth $22 million, will finance the construction and rehabilitation of road networks in the West Bank.

The loans will be reimbursed over 20 years at a low interest rate of 3 percent over a grace period of seven and a half years.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confronts today the first political challenge to the agreement he signed on Friday with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Washington last Friday.

The Israeli Knesset (parliament) will vote on the suggestion to withdraw confidence from Netanyahu's government today presented by one of the rightist parties.

The rightist parties and settlers agree on toppling the government. But the opposition Labor Party will support the agreement giving Natenyahu the needed majority to keep his post. The Labor Party had indicated that its support will be temporary.

This comes as Israel announced that they detained three members of the Palestinian Hamas movement who were suspected of killing two Jewish settlers in August.

An Israeli spokesman said that the Palestinian police are investigating a fourth person suspected of being involved in the same operation, which was followed by Hamas threats of more attacks on Israelis, leading to the closing of Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Palestinian forces said that one person was killed when Palestinian security forces fired on a demonstration by members of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Previous Stories:
  THE WYE RIVER MEMORANDUM full text   (10/24/1998)
  Hamas and El-Jihad oppose peace agreement   (10/24/1998)
  Hamas and El-Jihad oppose peace agreement   (10/24/1998)

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