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Arafat Willing to Enter Peace Talks
Things must not be going will in Ramallah. EFL.
Following an Israeli offer, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Sunday he is ready for peace talks, while about 6,000 Palestinians returned to jobs in Israel for the first time in a month. In an abrupt turnaround last week, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said contacts were already underway with Palestinian officials, adding, ``We are ready to enter negotiations at any time.’’ Sharon had previously conditioned talks on a crackdown on violent Palestinian groups responsible for attacks on Israelis.
Hmmm, wonder what happened in Jerusalem?
Asked about Sharon’s remarks, Arafat told reporters he would accept an offer for talks. ``There is no official communication, but we are ready while we find more splodydopes,’’ he said after meeting a delegation of Greek lawmakers at his smelly, rotted out headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Talks on the U.S.-backed and clinically dead ``road map’’ peace plan have been stalled for weeks because of Palestinian bombing attacks and Israeli defensive military operations, along with the Palestinians’ unwillingness inability to form a sham stable government. Arafat has often said he is ready to talk peace, but Israel and the United States are boycotting him, charging that he is completely tainted by terrorism. They insist on dealing with a mouthpiece an empowered prime minister.
Don’t see this going anywhere.
On Sunday, Arafat formally asked Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei to form a government, and Qurei said he accepted. Palestinian officials said they hoped the work could be completed in a few days. Qurei has been serving as the head of an emergency 30-day Cabinet. He could not agree with the veteran Palestinian leader over who should be the new interior minister in charge of the armed forces. The one-month decree runs out Tuesday. Qurei said Sunday he hopes to put together a government that is ``acceptable to Yassir everyone,’’ but Palestinian officials said the dispute with Arafat over interior minister has not been resolved.
And won’t be.
Reflecting a relative downturn in violence in recent weeks, the Israelis announced on Sunday that they would permit about 15,000 Palestinians to enter the country for work. A military announcement referred to "outside pressure" ``confidence-building measures’’ decided by the government. Before dawn, about 6,200 workers over the age of 35 crowded the Erez crossing point from Gaza, submitted to strict security checks and went to jobs in Israel. The permits arrived at the beginning of the second week of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. ``It is a miracle from God because I was running out of money due to the holy month of Ramadan and I was thinking how I would manage to feed my children in this very bad economic situation,’’ said Mohammed Salman, a 42-year-old construction worker who has seven children.
Construction, eh? Don’t think I’d turn my back on him while he has a hammer in his hands.
However, Salman was unhappy with the security checks, which make a trip from his home in the Jebaliya refugee camp to Tel Aviv last several hours instead of less than an hour.
And why would that be?
Strict closures were placed on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza before the Jewish New Year holiday in September because of increased concerns about attacks. The restrictions, which had been extended through a series of Jewish holidays — and the Oct. 4 suicide bombing at a that killed 21 — prevented nearly 3 million Palestinians from leaving their communities. Many Palestinian farmers could not reach their fields, badly damaging the annual olive harvest.
Not that anyone would notice.
Posted by: Steve White 2003-11-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=20699