WASHINGTON, June 23: Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s cabinet called on Sunday for US President George W. Bush to swiftly declare his support for a Palestinian state, to be created within two years.
Palestinian Authority planning minister Nabil Shaath told Fox News on Sunday that he hoped Bush, who has delayed a planned address on the Mideast conflict amid fresh violence in the region, “will set a timeline of not more than two years” in his call for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Shaath, who said the US must be “heavily involved (along) with the international community” if peace with Israel is to be achieved, said the borders of such a state should be in line with Palestinian areas prior to the 1967 Mideast War.
“Of course we would like to declare a state that would be in effect legally bound with the borders of 1967,” said Shaath. In practice, however, “the borders will be negotiated. ... We don’t mind some minor modifications on the ‘67 borders on a swap basis.”
Separately, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, speaking on CNN’s Late Edition, urged the Palestinian Authority to adopt political reforms that made peace negotiations possible, while stopping short of a call for a change of leadership.
“The problem is not the personality of Arafat but the system that exists in the West Bank,” Peres said. “As long as in the area in the West Bank there will be four or five different groups, different gangs ... there won’t be a single address among the Palestinians ... with which to negotiate.”
“They have to build a central command and take charge ... of all the arms” if credible negotiations are to take place, he said. Once that is accomplished, a regional peace conference with international participation would be possible, he said.
While borders, the right of return for refugees and other critical details must be negotiated with Israel, Shaath said it was essential Bush articulate his support for the idea of statehood in order to jump-start the peace process.
‘A STATE IS A STATE’: “I hope that it won’t be delayed any further,” he said of Bush’s address. “The sooner he comes out with that statement the better. ... There is no way you can fight violence with violence. You fight it with a political solution.”
Pressed to explain how Palestinians would set up a state while its borders remain in dispute, Shaath said: “A state is a state even if three-fourths of its territory is occupied.”
The Palestinian minister insisted the right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees need not be a “deal-breaker” in the process, saying Israel and Palestinian negotiators were close to an accord on the issue 18 months ago in Camp David.
“The essence of that agreement is probably that a majority (of the refugees) will go to the Palestinian state. ... But you have got to leave an option of people to ... go to Israel. the numbers would be determined (in negotiations with) Israel.”
Those refused the right of return to Israel proper, he said, would be entitled to “just compensation,” he added.
Peres dismissed Arafat’s surprise remark last week that he now accepts a peace plan put forward 18 months ago by then-US President Bill Clinton.
“It’s late in the day and then I’m afraid that Chairman Arafat has a different idea about the suggestions that Clinton has made ... different than what Clinton intended,” Peres said, without elaborating.
Bush’s speech has been delayed by debate about what Palestinians must do before an interim state is declared, and what rights they would have within it, a US official told Reuters on Friday.
Presidential aides have said the earliest he would deliver his speech, originally expected last week, would be some time this week. National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack, asked whether Bush might deliver the speech before leaving for a G8 summit on Tuesday afternoon, said: “We haven’t ruled anything out in terms of timing.”
Bush is expected to call for formation of a state of Palestine with permanent borders within three years. But that state could not be formed until the Palestinians meet benchmarks for ending violence and reforming institutions, those familiar with the plan said.
The new US policy is expected to include the early creation, perhaps within a year, of a Palestinian state with temporary, or provisional, borders. Israel would be asked to halt incursions into Palestinian areas, freeze settlement building and be willing to negotiate with the Palestinians. Bush also is expected to call on the Palestinians to move beyond Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, which the United States considers deeply flawed and corrupt.—Reuters
