Arafat asks for implementing agreements signed at the White House
Palestine, Politics, 3/24/1999

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat described his Tuesday meeting with the Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan, as "very fruitful, very positive and very important."

He added that he wants Washington to help him and help the Palestinian people carry out agreements signed at the White House, "precisely and accurately." Following his meeting with Annan, Arafat reminded the world that "the UN resolution which calls for the establishment of the state of Israel was no 181, which at the very beginning indicated the state of Palestine and then a Jewish state," which was called later Israel, "as well as UN resolution 194."

Arafat went on saying, "The international ground is clear and frank in this regard, and it is the right of the Palestinian people to have their own lands and to maintain self-determination the same as other peoples in the world."

Replying to a question on what he intends to do with the date of May 4 in light of his talks with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Monday, Arafat said, "There will be a meeting for the Palestinian leadership after all these consultations. We will debate in the meeting our consultations and its results and the Palestinian leadership will decide what it is going to do."

Arafat described the date of May 4 as "the most important," and "sacred date." He spoke about the signing of the Oslo agreement in the White House in the presence of world leaders and the UN chief, noting that means Oslo "was not a bilateral agreement, it was an international agreement."

Arafat denied that there is a US opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state. He recalled what had been said by the US president in his speech in Gaza, adding, "There is no American rejection of the Palestinian state, as you remember the US President said in Gaza, 'on their independent free lands,'" in reference to the Palestinians.

Arafat said, "I want the US administration to help me and help the Palestinian people to precisely implement all agreements signed at the White House, and the last of which was the Wye River agreement."

Previous Stories:
  Albright - Arafat   (3/23/1999)
  On Chirac - Arafat meeting in Paris   (3/23/1999)
  Palestinian groups boycott Palestinian Democratic Front festival   (3/22/1999)
  Sheikh Yassin denies agreement with Palestinian Authority   (3/22/1999)
  Idea of Palestinian state is making its way, US Republican representative says   (3/18/1999)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search