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September 10, 2000
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - With peace efforts looking grim, Palestinian lawmakers gathered Saturday in this seaside strip to debate whether to postpone their declaration of statehood past the deadline of Sept. 13. Although tough rhetoric was expected during the two-day, closed-door session, it was widely predicted that the legislators would postpone their declaration, at least until Nov. 15. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has come under intense pressure from foreign leaders not to declare statehood unilaterally, but to give faltering peace talks more of a chance. Arafat arrived back in Gaza Saturday morning to a greeting from an honor guard, after meetings at the United Nations, including a brief one with Israeli Prime Ministis Ehud Barak, failed to produce a breakthrough. Asked whether statehood would be postponed, he did not answer the question directly. "For your information, we have already had our state from the beginning," Arafat said. "And we will continue to do it (build the state.)" Arafat added that he had returned to Gaza "without taking any time for rest, in spite of the hard work we have done at the United Nations, in order to participate in the meeting today, in which we hope they will take the proper decision according to the democratic style we have committed to." In recent weeks, he has hinted that the declaration would be delayed.
He added that Clinton's efforts in the peace process would continue. Talks are planned soon between second-tier negotiators in the region. But the atmosphere is grim. After his brief encounter with Arafat on Friday, Barak summed up peace efforts with the Palestinians in two words: "No good." Barak told The Associated Press he'd made a last-ditch approach to Arafat, urging him to reach an accord in the little time remaining before next week's self-imposed deadline. But he said with evident disappointment that Arafat was not responsive. The negotiations are hung up mostly over Jerusalem. Arafat has not stepped back, at least publicly, from his firm demand for sovereignty over all the eastern part of the city, including the Old City and its holy sites. The United States has proposed complex sovereignty arrangements, including placing some areas under "divine sovereignty" to enable both sides to save face in accepting the compromise. Barak has said he would contemplate such proposals - if Arafat would do the same. Sept. 13 is the deadline that Barak and Arafat set last year for an overall peace agreement. But Clinton is prepared to keep working past it for an accord, and the Americans have told Arafat they would not recognize a Palestinian state declared outside the framework of a peace deal. In a further hint that the legislators would vote to delay the declaration, Arafat aide Nabil Aburdeneh told reporters in Gaza that that the next four weeks are crucial. "Within four weeks it will be clear whether we will reach an agreement or not," Aburdeneh said. "These four weeks will be the last chance for peace." After hearing from Arafat about his recent talks with world leaders, the 128-member PLO Central Council was planning to consider several options at the meeting beginning Saturday: - Stick to the Sept. 13 deadline for "materializing" statehood. -Move the deadline to Nov. 15, the anniversary of their 1988 declaration of statehood. - Announce that statehood would be declared by the end of the year. Salim Zanoun, speaker of the PCC, the chief Palestinian policymaking body, told the AP that all three options were possible, but that there should be a "serious reason" given for any delay. "The council will vote on the proper day which will benefit the Palestinian people," Zanoun said. "Until now, we are still committed to our (previous) decisions." There was also the possibility, sources said, that the PCC would hand the decision over to the 18-member PLO Executive Committee, led by Arafat, with the requirement that statehood be declared before Jan. 1. |
