News Analysis: Russia Differs From U.S. over Fate of Arafat

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 03, 2002

News Analysis: Russia Differs From U.S. over Fate of Arafat

Despite the U.S. government's demand for removing Yasser Arafat from the Palestinian leadership, Russia has adopted an independent stance by continuing to recognize Arafat's leadership.

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Despite the U.S. government's demand for removing Yasser Arafat from the Palestinian leadership, Russia has adopted an independent stance by continuing to recognize Arafat's leadership.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Monday that Arafat is still the leader of the Palestinian National Authority and Russia will continue its contacts with the Palestinian leader, neglecting calls from the U.S. to stop links with him.

After the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., the relations between Russia and the U.S. were drawn near. In the recently-concluded G-8 summit in Calgary, Canada, U.S. President George W. Bush called Russian President Vladimir Putin "a reliableally."

Observers here believe that there are three major reasons for Russia to adopt a different position on the leadership of Arafat.

First, Arafat has made great contributions to the Middle East peace process and is the legitimate leader elected by the Palestinians. So it is unfair to oust Arafat from the leadership only because of some big power's discontent over him.

Secondly, the accusations by Israel and some Western countries that Arafat supported terrorists lack sufficient evidence. Some Russian scholars believe that Arafat has enjoyed wide respect among Palestinians and great political influence. However, due to the facts that most Palestinians view Arafat as a peace mediator and Israel has restricted Arafat's movements for a long time, Arafat could not exert his influence effectively on some issues.

Thirdly, there is no appropriate replacement for Arafat so far. The new leadership, chosen in accordance with the will of some big power, is likely to be futile, thus renders the peace process unpredictable.

Ivanov said that the situation in the Middle East is still volatile and the way out of the crisis won't be found without positive mediation efforts of the international community.

Russia holds that international mediation is urgently needed toavoid the escalation of the conflict and it is imperative to turn the peace initiatives proposed by various parties into actions.

Russia also believes that it is essential to accelerate the establishment of a Palestinian state. Russian Duma's International Affairs Committee's chairman Dmitry Rogozin has said that the establishment of a Palestinian state is conducive to the elimination of the violence targeting at the Israelis.

On Tuesday, envoys of four mediators for the Middle East crisis-- the United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union -- met in London to discuss the situation in the region and their possible co-ordinated mediation actions.

As the inheritor of the former Soviet Union, Russia used to actas co-chairman of the Middle East Peace Conference with the UnitedStates.

Now Russia adopts a different approach from the United States towards the Mideast conflict, demonstrating that although Russia's influence in the Mideast affairs is waning, it is still a mediating force which cannot be ignored in the international community, observers here said.

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