COPENHAGEN, July 1: European Union leaders said on Monday they would continue to deal with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat if he were re-elected, despite Washington’s rejection of him as “compromised by terror”.
US President George W. Bush called last week for a new Palestinian leadership to pave the way for a Palestinian state and a final settlement within three years. But he said Arafat should be cast aside, triggering Arab and European concern.
Arafat has said he will be a candidate in a presidential election set for January and is widely expected to win.
“If we want free elections, we accept the result of the free elections, whether we like it or not,” European Commission President Romano Prodi told a news conference in Copenhagen.
“Let us work for free, very clear, internationally open, transparent elections and then the Palestinian people will decide who is their leader,” he said.
His comments were echoed by Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, whose country assumed the EU’s rotating six-month presidency on Monday.
“We will of course negotiate with the leader elected by the Palestinians,” said Rasmussen.
But he added: “I share President Bush’s disappointment that Arafat has obviously not done what he could and what he should do to prevent terrorism and suicide bombers.”
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Monday called on Palestinian residents in the West Bank to engage in “civil disobedience” against Israel.
Cabinet Secretary-General Ahmed Abdel Rahman said the call was in response to the reoccupation of the West Bank, the ignoring of the Oslo accords and Israel’s decision to stop dealing with the joint security liaison committee.
“We called on our people to engage in civil disobedience and to boycott this Israeli government in all aspects,” Abdel Rahman said.
Israel, he charged, was attempting to reinforce the Israeli army’s civil administration which ruled West Bank towns and cities before they gained autonomy following the 1993 interim Oslo peace accords.
The Palestinians “can never accept the logic of using tanks, occupation and force,” he said.
Abdel Rahman also called on Palestinian officials and senior leaders to refuse to hold any talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, since the latter would not talk with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
“There is one legal and elected leadership for the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza, and any country or leader in the world who wants to contact the Palestinians must contact their legal leadership,” said Abdel Rahman.
This leadership, he said, was headed by Arafat and the Palestinian leadership refuse to deal with anyone, “including Powell” who tries to neglect Arafat and the Palestinian National Authority leadership.—Reuters / dpa