| Submit your comments on this article |
| Middle East |
| Yasser prepared to accept Jewish state. Really. |
| 2002-05-12 |
| Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Sunday he is prepared to accept a Jewish state called Israel. The Palestinian Authority president-for-life said the land of Israel and the Palestinian territories is "terra santa" -- Latin for holy land -- for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. Any independent Palestinian state, he said, will have room for them all. "We hope that we will have this independent Palestinian state side by side with Israeli Jewish state," he told CNN. Asked whether he accepts the Jewish state of Israel, he replied, "Yes. A part of the Jews are Palestinians, and they are represented in our legislative council. Till now, we don't call them Jews. Do you know what we call them? Our cousins." Arafat recalled how as a boy he had Jewish playmates. "Historically, we are cousins." Cousin Shlomo? Now I've heard everything. They have Jews in Egypt? Or maybe they did when Yasser was a tad. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |