Arafat urges U.S administration to make its initiative public

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has urged the U.S. administration to announce its undeclared initiative, saying that the Palestinians have accepted such initiative though it did not fully satisfy Palestinian expectations.

Speaking before the inaugural session of the 12th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) on Wednesday, Arafat said, "The United States must announce its initiative so that Israel does not exploit such voluntary hesitation for its interests."

"We are still courageously adhering to peace," the Palestinian leader added, urging the NAM countries to salvage the peace mission from its continuing deadlock.

He said Israel is fully responsible for the Mideast peace deadlock, stressing that the Palestinians will not remain inactive regarding collective punishment, Israeli Judaization schemes, the destruction of Arab Palestinian homes and the building of more Jewish settlements.

Arafat called on the European Union to announce its initiative in order to assist in pushing forward the peace process in the region.

He also expressed the hope that the NAM would play its role in solving the deadlocked peace in the middle east and would work for the ending the israeli occupation, oppression of Palestinian people.