Shaath: We want a state on 1967 borders, won't forfeit right of return

[IMRA: Israeli Foreign Minister Peres also recently mentioned the dubious "achievement" of the Grapes of Wrath April 1996 understanding that formalized the framework for Hezbollah attacks to continue.]

During a trip to the US to deliver the Palestinian political view to the American administration, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Nabil Shaath, told Al Quds daily newspaper last Monday from Washington that the way to a real peace was through the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

He said that the Palestinian people and the PNA would reject any peace plan which did not recognize the legitimate and historic rights of the Palestinian people to their land. He further explained that the PNA also rejected the establishment of a provisional state and that a timetable for a final settlement agreement and a complete Israeli withdrawal from the land it occupied in 1967 was essential.

Shaath said that the PNA was ready to accept an agreement with Israel similar to the April 1996 understandings signed between the Lebanese Resistance Movement Hezbollah and Israel, through the United Nations ,which stipulated the cessation of attacks against civilians on both sides. We refuse completely the idea of forfeiting the right of return for refugees guaranteed through UN resolutions in return for establishing a Palestinian state, Shaath stressed.

Shaath described his meetings with US Secretary of State Collin Powell as positive adding that the US Secretary told him that the US views President Yasser Arafat as the legitimately elected leader of the Palestinian people.

The minister stressed that any resumption of peace talks should be based on the principles of the land for peace formula, relevant UN resolutions and the Saudi peace initiative. Also, he clarified that the PNA will not negotiate any settlement that does not include Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.

Shaath was the last figure from the region to meet with US Administration officials during these round of consultations conducted with Middle East leaders prior to President Bush's speech.

And here's Yasser, sounding like a mild-mannered man of peace (and I am NOT making this up):

Last update - 16:42 21/06/2002

Arafat to Ha'aretz: I can make peace with Sharon, he backed Wye

By Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz Correspondent

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat says he does not rule out the idea of a provisional Palestinian state, and that he believes it is possible to reach peace with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

In an interview with Ha'aretz conducted Thursday in his battered Ramallah headquarters, Arafat said that Sharon was ready to dismantle Jewish settlements in the Sinai, and as foreign minister, gave his blessing to the Wye agreement that former President Bill Clinton had worked out during Benjamin Netanyahu's term as premier. (Click here for full story.)

Arafat claimed he had yet to receive any information from the United States about a proposal for a provisional state, but that he does not rule one out.

He added that he had not ruled out the Peres-Abu Ala plan, which includes the declaration of a Palestinian state to be followed by negotiations on borders, Jerusalem and refugees. Arafat said it was Sharon who said Foreign Minister Shimon Peres did not have the mandate to propose the plan, and he called the Labor Party "a fig leaf for Sharon."

During the interview, Arafat issued a call for "no more war," declaring that he accepts the proposal first made by former U.S. president Bill Clinton as a framework for a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

He used the same phrase that U.S. President George W. Bush recently used - "Enough is enough" - and said he supports the initiative of Sari Nusseibeh, Hanan Ashrawi and other Palestinian intellectuals who published an advertisement against the suicide bombings.

Arafat said that if given permission, he would follow in the footsteps of Jordan's late King Hussein, who made personal condolence calls on the families of victims of a shooting attack at Naharayim in 1996.

He said that "foreign" forces were exploiting young hopeless Palestinians, encouraging them to commit attacks in exchange for money, adding that two families of suicide attackers from Jenin received $30,000 each from these foreigners.

He also said he had imposed a house arrest on Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza. His advisers have expressed amazement that Israel has not taken any steps against Hamas and Islamic Jihad, preferring to focus its military campaign against the Palestinian Authority and Fatah.

We have only Eldar's word for the veracity of Arafat's statements. If you realize Eldar is an Extreme Leftist who longs to see his own country gone, you finally understand how he can make Arafat look so angelic. Of course to get this picture Eldar has to leave out a lot of DETAILS that inevitably affect what Arafat ostensibly agreed to. And once the details are mentioned, it turns out Arafat agreed to nothing. And even without the details one isn't exactly sure WHICH version of the Clinton plan Arafat has accepted. His own? Or that described by Eldar? In any case I find no value whatsoever in either the word of a congenital liar or of a hack propagandist who misleads people into believing Arafat is a man of peace when in fact he is nothing of the sort. Only fools could swallow a fairy tale like this and I'm certain most Israelis are not as foolish in swallowing Arafat's lies as Eldar was.

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