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TITLE: Arafat Attacks Israel at Meeting |
AUTHOR: William Drozdiak |
PUB: |
DATE: January 29, 2001 |
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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat angrily denounced Israel today for waging "a savage and barbaric war" against his people, saying it is impossible to reach a peace deal while Israeli soldiers use overwhelming force to suppress a Palestinian revolt against military occupation. Speaking to a gathering of business and political luminaries in this Swiss mountain resort, including former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres, Arafat said Israeli soldiers have killed more than 400 Palestinians in the four-month-old uprising. He said Palestinian society has been devastated because the Israeli army has laid waste to farms, destroyed the infrastructure of many towns and villages, and left 75 percent of Palestinians living in poverty. Arafat's vitriolic attack on what he called Israel's "fascist aggression and ugly collective punishment" came only a day after Palestinian and Israeli negotiators issued a conciliatory joint statement saying they had achieved substantial progress on all issues related to a comprehensive peace accord. The two sides said discussions at the Egyptian seaside town of Taba were "unprecedented in their positive atmosphere." Peres, expressing shock at Arafat's hostile remarks, said he had come to Davos "expecting a wedding and not a divorce." He insisted that Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is far behind Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon in voter preference polls for the Feb. 6 election, is determined to end the violence because he believes "a good neighbor is better than a good gun." "We do not want to be the masters of Palestinian lives," Peres said. "We want to see Palestinians living in an independent state, with honor, prosperity and security. If there were no bombs, there would be no closure of Palestinian towns. If there were no violence, there would be no reaction." Peres warned Arafat that "introducing a cloud of polemics" at this delicate stage of the peace process would damage any lingering hopes of an agreement. In a conciliatory gesture at the end of their joint appearance at the World Economic Forum annual meeting, Arafat shook hands with Peres and promised not to break off the negotiating process. After late-night talks with Arafat, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan announced that negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians would continue after the election regardless of who becomes prime minister. Annan spoke with Barak several times tonight by phone to see if a preelection summit could be held in Stockholm, but sources said Barak was so infuriated by Arafat's remarks that he vowed there would be no further talks before the vote. END |