King Hassan II receives Palestinian president
Morocco-Palestine, Politics, 2/25/1999

King Hassan II received in Rabat on Wednesday President of Palestine Yasser Arafat.

Talks covered the deadlocked Middle East peace process.

President Arafat who flew later in the day to Algeria had attended on Tuesday in Casablanca the opening session of an international colloquy on the "future of Arab Jerusalem."

Arafat said in his opening address that the establishment of the independent State of Palestine, with holy Jerusalem as its capital, "is a sacred and legitimate right of the palestinian people."

President Arafat had renewed upon arrival in Casablanca Tuesday morning the Palestinians' determination to proclaim the Palestinian State in the course of the current year.

In his address before the colloquy, Arafat also called on the international community to save Jerusalem, to combat the judaization of the holy city and to start a campaign of financial contributions on the Arab, Islamic, Christian and international levels under the motto of "saving Jerusalem."

Relatedly, head of the political department of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Farouk kaddoumi, who is also taking part in the international colloquy on "the future of Arab jerusalem" told the Moroccan second TV channel "2 M" that the Palestinians will exercise their sovereignty over their land as of May 4 and that they do not need to proclaim their independent state at this date as this had already been done on November 15, 1988.

"We shall exercise our sovereignty after May 4th and Israel has not the right to interfere in our internal affairs in the West Bank and Gaza," Kaddoumi said.

"The Palestinian people have the right to establish their State on their national territory or at least on the part of the territory occupied in 1967," the PLO executive said.

Previous Stories:
  President Yasser Arafat in Morocco on Tuesday   (2/22/1999)
  Palestinian president hails position of Moroccan King in favor of Palestinian people   (1/16/1999)
  Palestine gets aid from donor conference   (12/1/1998)

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