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JORDAN BLASTS ARAFAT
Wednesday, August 4th, 2004 DUBAI: King Abdullah of Jordan yesterday harshly criticised Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority for what he said were its shifting demands, and called for urgent reform at the top to allow the peace process to proceed. "We want the Palestinian leadership to declare clearly what it wants and not surprise us every now and then with some decisions or by accepting things that it did not accept before," he told Al Arabiya TV in an interview. "It is unfortunate to see that what had been rejected, or considered as treachery if accepted, has unfortunately come to be seen by some people as a great achievement," he said. "The Palestinians should tell us how to help them. "In the beginning, the issue was about the return of 98 per cent of occupied Palestinian territories, then it became about less than 50pc of this land and we don't know what the percentage will be in a year or two. "As for the (Palestinian) refugees, the issue was about return and compensation, then it became about the return of a small percentage of them." King Abdullah said that the internationally drafted Middle East peace roadmap, launched amid great fanfare last year but as yet unimplemented, provided an opportunity that the Palestinians needed to seize if they were to obtain their promised state. Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-08-04 |
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